The Future of European Social Citizenship (EUSOCIALCIT)

Abstract:

The overarching objective of EUSOCIALCIT is to provide scientific analysis and examine alternative policy scenarios that support the European Union’s aim of strengthening EU social citizenship. We will do so by examining, in the context of long-term economic and social transformations as well as the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, four main issues: (i) the rationale for and the nature of EU social citizenship and the social rights associated with it; (ii) the objective state of social rights in the EU, their capacity to mitigate economic shocks, and their relationship to social outcomes such as social inequality, gender inequality, poverty, and precariousness; (iii) the subjective view of EU citizens on the state of social rights and on the role of the EU in providing these rights; and (iv) alternative policy scenarios that lead to the strengthening of social rights and EU social citizenship. Towards these ends, EUSOCIALCIT will develop a synthesis of long-standing debates on the justification and feasibility of stronger EU social citizenship and elaborate a novel, resourcebased and multi-level concept of social rights. We will identify current gaps in the provision of social rights and strategies to fill them, particular in terms of policy scenarios for the EU. The project will create scientific knowledge that can be used by national and European policy-makers to strengthen social rights and EU social citizenship and to foster equality and well-being in our societies.