Social justice index reveals ‘highly explosive situation’ in Europe

The Social Justice Index 2014, released by the German think tank Bertelsmann Stiftung in September 2014, showed a wide variation in the European Union in terms of poverty prevention, equitable education, labour market access, social cohesion and non-discrimination, health, as well as intergenerational justice.

The first Social Justice Index compared all 28 EU states. In Europe the gap was growing between North and South as well as between young and old. Social division threatened the future viability of the European project. A European social strategy was needed.

Europe was making some progress in terms of economic stabilisation, but the level of social justice has declined in recent years in most EU states. The social imbalance between the affluent northern European states and the many southern and south-eastern European countries has considerably intensified over the course of the crisis. Whilst there still is a high level of social inclusion in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands, social injustice in countries such as Greece, Spain, Italy or Hungary has increased.

In the crisis-ridden states of the EU in particular, it has not been possible to administer the massive cuts in a balanced manner.

Bertelsmann Stiftung: Social Justice in the EU – A Cross-national Comparison [Report, 2014] http://news.sgi-network.org/uploads/tx_amsgistudies/Social-Justice-in-the-EU-2014.pdf

Bertelsmann Stiftung: Press Release, 15.09.14: Social imbalance in Europe is increasing http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/press/press-releases/press-release/pid/europa-droht-die-soziale-spaltung/

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