Towards a European Pillar of Social Rights: from a preliminary outline to a Commission Recommendation

摘要: There is widespread agreement that the European Union (EU) and its Member States are failing to deliver on one of the fundamental goals of the European project: the simultaneous pursuit of economic and social progress (Vandenbroucke withVanhercke 2014). The legacy of the economic crisis in social and budgetary terms, the risk of persistently low economic growth and structural unemployment for several years, rising inequality and the challenges of an ageing population make the pursuit of economic progress and social cohesion even more challenging. While one should not overlook the fact that a European social dimension has been actively pursued for the past fifty years–resulting in an extensive social acquis–it seems fair to say that, for several years now, the EU policymaking agenda has been dominated by economic, budgetary and monetary concerns and austeritarian policies (2008-2014).