Sergio Fabbrini
Chapter 1
Beyond disintegration: political and institutional prospects
of the European Union ...................................................................................... 13
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 13
1. Intergovernmental economic governance ............................................................... 15
2. The crisis of the EMU economic governance model .................................................. 18
3. What sort of differentiation to deal with centrifugal pressures? .................................. 21
Conclusion ...................................................................... 27
Sotiria Theodoropoulou
Chapter 2
What solidarity in the Eurozone after the Greek crisis of 2015? .................................... 33
Introduction ......................................................................................................... ...   read more ...

Sergio Fabbrini
Chapter 1
Beyond disintegration: political and institutional prospects
of the European Union ...................................................................................... 13
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 13
1. Intergovernmental economic governance ............................................................... 15
2. The crisis of the EMU economic governance model .................................................. 18
3. What sort of differentiation to deal with centrifugal pressures? .................................. 21
Conclusion ...................................................................... 27
Sotiria Theodoropoulou
Chapter 2
What solidarity in the Eurozone after the Greek crisis of 2015? .................................... 33
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 33
1. Power asymmetries in decision making and the notion of inter-state solidarity
in the Eurozone........................................................................................................ 34
2. Greece and the Eurozone on the brink: the 2015 surrender ................................ 40
3. Is there a future for solidarity in the Eurozone? .............................................. 54
Anke Hassel and Bettina Wagner
Chapter 3
The EU’s ‘migration crisis’: challenge, threat or opportunity? ................................... 61
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 61
1. The refugee crisis and EU asylum policy: the legal framework between
Schengen and Dublin .................................................................................................... 64
2. From a refugee ‘situation’ to a refugee ‘crisis’ in 2015 ................................................. 68
3. Refugees in the EU: origins, numbers and profile ....................................................... 71
4. Uncoordinated national responses ............................................................................ 75
5. EU internal migration: legal frameworks and controversies ........................................ 76
Conclusion and policy recommendation ....................................................................... 85
Denis Bouget and Bart Vanhercke
Chapter 4
Tackling long-term unemployment in Europe through a Council
Recommendation? .................................................................................................... 93
Introduction.................................................................................................................... 93
1. Long-term unemployment in European countries .................................................. 95
2. Employment and social policies in European countries ............................................ 102
3. Towards a Council Recommendation ....................................................................... 112
4. Critical appraisal of the Council Recommendation ............................................... 117
Conclusion ............................................................................................. 124
Annex: Definitions of unemployment indicators .......................................................... 130
Aída Ponce Del Castillo
Chapter 5
Occupational safety and health in the EU: back to basics........................................... 131
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 131
1. National initiatives: the early roots of occupational health and safety ................... 132
2. From national initiatives to a consolidated European approach:
the Framework Directive and its daughter directives ............................................... 136
3. The European Commission’s 2014 Strategic Framework: importance and
limitations ..................................................................................................... 141
4. Recent developments: the year 2015 ........................................................................ 145
Conclusions and forward-looking perspective ............................................................ 149
Annex: List of Occupational Health and Safety Directives ........................................... 155
Dalila Ghailani
Chapter 6
Violations of fundamental rights: collateral damage of the Eurozone crisis? .......... 157
1. Austerity measures and their impact on certain fundamental rights ......................... 158
2. Clear denunciation by international human rights bodies .......................................... 169
3. Towards a body of crisis case law ........................................................................... 173
4. Member States and the Troika: the tricky question of shared responsibility ............. 177
Summary and conclusion .............................................................................................. 182
David Natali
Chapter 7
Taking the bull by the horns: differentiation within the EU to save it? ...................... 189
Introduction .......................................................................................................... 189
1. The many crises of the EU .................................................................................... 191
2. Differentiated integration: who wants to be in and who out? ............................. 196
3. Different strategies to address the refugee crisis .............................................. 201
4. Is there life after Brexit? ..................................................... 202
5. What do EU members really still have in common? ..................................................... 204
Cécile Barbier
The European Union in 2015: key events ........................................................ 211 read less ...

Contains figures and bibliography 

Contains figures and bibliography read less ...

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2016 is focused on some of the most severe crises that have marked the integration process during the year 2015, discussing their potential social, political and institutional causes and consequences. Some of the recent developments are rendering the integration process fragile as a whole. The
cooperation between Member States is characterised by increasing mistrust, or even outright conflict. As a result, the EU institutions – particularly the European Commission – face increasing difficulties to broker common solutions between national governments to solve the collective problems of the Union. While there has been some good news
in 2015 – the decline in number of long-term unemployed is a case in point, even if it remains far above pre-crisis levels – persistent problems are contributing to a sense of insecurity and generalised doubt about the future of the EU. The risk of EU disintegration, in a rather detrimental socio-economic c ...   read more ...

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2016 is focused on some of the most severe crises that have marked the integration process during the year 2015, discussing their potential social, political and institutional causes and consequences. Some of the recent developments are rendering the integration process fragile as a whole. The
cooperation between Member States is characterised by increasing mistrust, or even outright conflict. As a result, the EU institutions – particularly the European Commission – face increasing difficulties to broker common solutions between national governments to solve the collective problems of the Union. While there has been some good news
in 2015 – the decline in number of long-term unemployed is a case in point, even if it remains far above pre-crisis levels – persistent problems are contributing to a sense of insecurity and generalised doubt about the future of the EU. The risk of EU disintegration, in a rather detrimental socio-economic context, has never been so real.
In such a context, short-term remedies are inadequate to give a new dynamic to the EU and to renew the prospect of a more integrated Europe. More ambitious plans to ‘revitalise’ or even ‘save’ Europe are needed. The main questions addressed by the book are therefore quite existential: What is the scale of the different crises? Is there a genuine
risk of the EU disintegrating? What would be the best ways for the EU to address the many crises? What are the prospects of further differentiation within the EU, with groups of countries following distinctive integration paths? read less ...