State of the art

Abstract

Some researchers think that EU social policy is hardly developed, they criticise the absence of a social policy and respective entitlements comparable to those in national environments and posit that EU market regulation undermines domestic social regulation (Offe 1998; Scharpf 1999). Decreased competences of national welfare states should be met with increased competences at EU-level (Kowalsky 1999; Schmid 2002). Besides socio-economic and judicial reasons given for a stronger integration, there are quite a few who also introduce political and legitimacy-related arguments. Along these lines, questions of effectiveness and legitimacy are interrelated and can only be solved together, while the acceptance of the EU can only be secured through a “social EU”. Differences exist, however, about the preconditions to be met in order to develop a stronger EU social policy (Offe and Preuß 2006; Scharpf 2007).