Dimension of European Union and the situation of the labour law in the member states: evaluation of the spanish experience (original) (raw)

Social Dimension of European Union and the Situation of the Labour Law in the Member States: Evaluation of the Spanish Experience

Revista de Evaluación de Programas y Políticas Públicas, 2013

The EU decision to take into account only economical origin and discard the social one, adopting the Pact of Euro as the best-and only-way to get over the crisis, has the mistake to confuse origin and consequences. As known, the main content of the Pact of Euro is addressed to reduce public deficit. As a result of these policies, almost all EU-27 countries have been converting private debt in public debat, cutting public spending in Education, Health and Social Service and bailing out several banks, worsening crisis social causes. This idea, obviously, is expressed in another way, affirming that in order to maintain Social State is firstly necessary to control public deficit. But in fact, after five years of austerity measures, there are many doubts about sincerity of these (neoliberalism) policies.

The Euro System as a Laboratory for Neoliberalism: The Case of Spain

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2019, vol. 78, no 1, p. 167-193, 2019

Since the 1970s, neoliberalism has evolved from ideology to political agenda, from political program to public policy, and from public policy to a system that replaces democratic control over economic policy with a system of elite economic management. This process of change has been possible due to the endorsement of a meta-political theory that destroys democracy and legitimizes technocratic despotism, financial deregulation, the debasement of labor into a new proletariat, and the purging of constitutional politics. In this article, we analyze this profound transformation of social and legal relations in the "euro system" and, specifically, in the regressive policies that have emerged from the "crisis" in Spain, a peripheral country of the European Union. The problems in contemporary Europe are a direct consequence of the neoliberal version of European economic unity. Their solution will depend on the capacity of the member states to create a social Europe that strengthens institutional democracy and develops universal systems of social protection. This, in turn, will depend on the ability of citizens to remodel state institutions in accordance with new social goals that place life at the center.

Euro Crisis, Austerity Policy and the European Social Model

Klaus Busch, Christoph Hermann, Karl Hinrichs & Thorsten Schulten The harsh austerity measures that, according to official policy, are supposed to overcome the euro crisis have once again plunged Europe into recession in 2012. Austerity policy has proved – in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIPS) – to be primarily an attack on wages, social services and public ownership. The EU has developed a new form of wage policy interventionism (Euro Plus Pact, Six Pack). The principles of centralised collective agreements and general applicability are being undermined in the GIPS states and collective bargaining systems are being decentralised. Real wages fell in these four states from 2010 to 2012 at an above-average rate. As regards pension policy the GIPS states have introduced reforms that significantly curtail spending growth in pension systems. Relative pension levels will fall dramatically in these states up to 2040, measured in terms of the wage replacement rate. Due to the euro crisis the policy of privatising public assets in the GIPS states has been given new impetus. Greece has been hardest hit and is planning a veritable fire sale of state property. The abovementioned interventions in Southern Europe mean that the liberalisation of the European Social Model – which up until the crisis was to be observed mainly in western and eastern Europe – will be implemented in the EU as a whole. If the path of economic austerity, despite all opposition, is maintained until 2014/2015 and then experiences a new upswing the policy disaster for European social democracy and the trade unions will be complete.

The Euro Crisis and Its Impact on National and European Social Policies

Social Science Research Network, 2013

We begin by describing three different models of economic and monetary union and the different policy dynamics underlying them. These dynamics influence the architecture of monetary union which has a huge impact on national industrial relations and welfare state policies. Our hypothesis is that, in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, and subsequently of the 'euro crisis', and also due to the fact that the vast majority of governments in the EU responsible for handling this crisis were centre/right-wing, one model of economic and monetary union has been converted into another. What we describe is a series of political choices, circumstances and windows of opportunity that have enabled this particular vision of the model of monetary union to gain acceptance. In the context of this model, political union is not considered an accessible way to manage the crisis, for the rescue of the euro is regarded as feasible only in a more competitive economy. The social dimension, accordingly, becomes the adjustment variable. In this regard, the statements made by the President of the European Central Bank, announcing the death of the European Social Model, are merely the anticipation of a reality that is the outcome of a political choice, based on a set of economic prescriptions and which takes for granted the impossibility of attaining true political union. We describe the new complex governance system put in place to implement this new model of economic governance of the EMU. It is a system still under construction but already it is putting much more pressure on industrial relations (in terms of wages and decentralization) and welfare states (labour market policy and pensions). It differs from the previous governance system in that, on the one hand, the rules are more rigid and, on the other hand, the changes foreseen relate to the institutions more than the policies. While we conclude by drawing attention to those aspects that currently cohere and make sense, we are equally well aware of the contradictions, anomalies, power struggles, and possible changes of paradigm, that rule out any suggestion of a foregone conclusion. The Euro crisis and its impact on national and European social policies 7 WP 2013.05

Spain's membership in the EU and the European welfare state

2011

"Membership in the EEC/EU has brought incentives for Spain to achieve economic ‘real’ convergence. Figures of economic growth are significant in this respect: in 1985 the per head income in purchasing power parity (PPP) was 70.6 percent of EU's mean; in 2007, it had already reached 103.0 percent regarding the UE-27. During the last 25 years, Spain’s welfare has converged with those more mature systems of social protection in the EU. Social spending has grown at both a quicker and higher pace as compared to other European countries. The process of Europeanization has had a great impact in Spain’s welfare development, although the economic crisis has put a halt in this process. This paper reviews social developments in Spain having as analytical reference the European welfare state in its diverse institutionalizations. Spanish welfare state appears as a via media between corporatist Continental, liberal Anglo-Saxon, and social-democratic Nordic worlds of welfare capitalism."

THE EUROPEAN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT SCHEME: LEGAL BASIS FOR RESOCIALISING EUROPE

This paper focuses on the possible introduction of a European Unemployment Benefit Scheme (henceforth EUBS) as a legal “tool” to resocialise Europe in times of crisis. After a description of the US system of insurance against unemployment, which could represent an ideal type because of the shared competences between the federal and the State levels, the present work explores the legitimacy of the measure in compliance with the EU treaties: despite the lack of an exclusive EU competence in the field of social security, a European insurance against unemployment could be legitimised by an holistic approach to EU law. To empirically demonstrate either the feasibility or the criticalities of the EUBS, the work concludes by simulating the interaction between the Spanish system of protection against unemployment and the same EUBS. Il presente lavoro analizza la possibile introduzione di un Sussidio europeo di disoccupazione (d’ora in poi EUBS) nella temperie economico-culturale della crisi quale strumento tecnico-giuridico per la risocializzazione dell’Europa. Dopo un’analisi del sistema statunitense di tutela della disoccupazione, che rappresenterebbe un idealtipo in ragione del sistema di competenze condivise tra livello federale e statale, il saggio si concentra sulla legittimità dell’EUBS alla luce dei trattati UE: nonostante l’assenza di un’autonoma potestas normativa europea in materia di sicurezza sociale, l’EUBS potrebbe essere giustificato da un’interpretazione olistica del diritto dell’Unione. Da ultimo, per dimostrarne tanto la fattibilità quanto i punti critici, viene simulata una possibile interazione tra lo stesso EUBS e il sistema spagnolo di tutela della disoccupazione.

The Current Reforms Of The Labour Markets And Of The Related Social Policies At European Union Level – Are They The Best Solutions To Solve The Problems Which Appeared During The Crisis?

Studii Financiare (Financial Studies), 2012

Rezumat Criza economică şi financiară globală pare a avea şi în prezent o remanenţă nefastă materializată în creşterea deficitelor bugetare şi a datoriilor publice la nivelul Uniunii Europene, situaţie remarcată cu precădere în vechile state membre. Printre efectele majore ale crizei se poate remarca o accentuare a problemelor din sfera fiscalbugetară dar şi din cea socială şi a pieţei muncii, cu un impact considerabil asupra restabilirii echilibrelor macroeconomice prezente şi viitoare. De fapt, măsurile menite a repune finanţele publice pe linia de plutire pentru asigurarea sustenabilităţii fiscal-bugetare au constituit baza de plecare pentru declanşarea reformelor economicosociale, acestea din urmă având nu de puţine ori mai degrabă efecte negative decât pozitive asupra economiilor analizate. Astfel, în acest articol vom prezenta măsurile propuse de guvernele câtorva ţări ale UE în privinţa pieţei muncii, a sistemelor de sănătate, educaţie şi protecţie socială, cu sublinierea aspectelor criticabile, precum lipsa unor fructificări concrete ale programelor destinate creşterii ocupării şi

From austerity to permanent strain. The EU and welfare state reform in Italy and Spain

This article analyzes comparatively the trajectories of welfare change in Italy and Spain since the outbreak of the financial crisis. We look at the differences in the type of institutional design to study the character of welfare reform in these two countries. The article also assesses the level of EU ‘intrusiveness’ through formal instruments around the European Semester, but also through agreements with the Troika and the European Central Bank. For this part of the analysis three sets of documents have been used: Commission Recommendations and Council Decisions in relation to Excessive Deficit Procedures (EDP); Commission country-specific Recommendations based on Stability or Convergence Programmes, and policy measures to boost growth and jobs (National Reform Programmes). These documents allow an analysis of the contents of formal adjustment pressures.Other documents and sources (including newspapers’ articles) have also been analysed in order to look at the role of conditionality and ‘backroom’ diplomacy. Keywords: Welfare state reform, EU, European Central Bank, European Semester, Italy, Spain, Economic crisis.

Chapter 2 Crisis and Labour Reforms in Spain: A Paradigm Shift?

Labour Law and Social Protection in a Globalized World: Changing Realities in Selected Areas of Law and Policy, 2018

Spain is a privileged observatory for the study of reforms carried out in labor legislation for two reasons: It has been seriously affected by the crisis and the crisis has been tried through legislative reforms carried out by two different political parties (socialist and conservatives), allowing to observe two different approaches to the same problem. The document examines these reforms and goes further, trying to respond to the problems of labor legislation in the economy 4.0 and explaining why the work should not end, nor dismantle Labor Law as a specific labor legislation.