How should welfare benefits in the EU be regulated?

Professor Ulla Neergaard organises an international legal conference in Germany

Welfare benefits are no longer just a national issue. The EU influences the regulation of national welfare benefits, which is why a new legal framework is needed in the area.

The legal aspect is on the agenda at the international conference, ?The changing framework of public services in Europe?, which will take place in Potsdam in Germany from 7 to 9 April, 2008. Ulla Neergaard, a professor of competition law with a focus on public distortions of competition, is one of the organisers of the conference at which leading lawyers and researchers will discuss the development.

Perceptible changes

-The area of competition is undergoing perceptible changes. On the one hand, there are EU provisions on the single market and competition, subsidies, and the right to supply that are based on macroeconomic principles. On the other hand, there are welfare states like, for example, Denmark that has a more social approach to, for instance, taking care of the weaker part of the population. In addition, legally, it is necessary to find a way for these two things to go hand in hand. To a great extent, this is about how welfare benefits are to be regulated. What rights do the population have at present, and which problems need to be solved, says Ulla Neergaard.

Read more about the conference