Revisiting the cost of non-Europe

a column by Thierry Mayer, Vincent Vicard and Soledad Zignago for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Sixty years after the Treaty of Rome came into force, doubts about the benefits of trade openness are increasing among the general public and policymakers, with Brexit and calls from many governments for a reversal of key integration agreements painting a bleak picture of what may come next.

This column revisits the gains EU members have reaped from trade integration since 1957 and what would be the costs of going backwards. The results suggest that the Single Market has increased trade between EU members by 109% on average for goods, with associated welfare gains reaching 4.4% for the average European country.

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Do European citizens support the idea of a European welfare state? Evidence from a comparative survey conducted in three EU member states

an article by Jürgen Gerhards (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany), Holger Lengfeld (Universität Leipzig, Germany) and Julia Häuberer (Universität Hamburg, Germany) published in International Sociology Volume 31 Issue 6 (2016)

Abstract

Some scholars have argued that the only way to resolve the Euro crisis would be to further deepen the integration process by institutionalising a European welfare state. This article examines whether a Europeanised welfare system would be supported by citizens of three member states of the EU. The authors argue that the legitimacy of a harmonisation of national welfare regimes would be established if a majority of citizens supported a Europeanised social policy.

Using survey data from Germany, Poland and Spain, descriptive findings show that indeed a majority supports the idea of Europeanisation of social policy.

Further, multivariate analyses show that those respondents who reject Europeanisation of social policy cannot be characterised to any significant extent in terms of socio-economic factors, and are only slightly more likely to be associated with cultural factors. The cleavages that structure people’s attitudes are thus relatively weak.

The authors conclude that the potential for political mobilisation against Europeanisation of social policy in the three countries under investigation is rather low.

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The impact of the austerity measures to confront the economic crisis on the EU objectives and EU values

an article by Despina Anagnostopoulou (University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece) published in International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy Volume 3, Number 2 (2016)

Abstract

According to the EU Treaties, the EU economic policy coordination should serve the objectives of the EU, among which is the promotion of the EU values.

The paper demonstrates that:

• the EU values and objectives as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights are binding on the EU institutions, even when they are acting outside the EU legal order (e.g., when drafting the MoUs);
• democratic principles are lacking in the EMU patchwork, especially in the case of member states under adjustment programmes;
• the national constitutional courts have recently ruled that equality and dignity were infringed by the laws implementing the MoUs, and so did the European Committee of Social Rights as far as social rights are concerned.

However, the European Court of Human Rights rules that the right to property is not infringed, while the EU Court of Justice denies competence to rule on the MoUs. Such approaches undermine the European citizenship project, and thus European integration.

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