Europe and the Welfare State—Friends, Foes, or . . .?

Summary:

Europe’s relationship with its Member States’ national welfare systems attracts the headlines nowadays.

This article goes to the heart of the puzzle and seeks to throw light upon the existing tensions in thinking. The analysis anchors itself in the following three themes: (1) the conundrum inherent in the overall simmering feud, if viewed as a clash of different perspectives; (2) the overall role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in supporting or curing these tensions, where recurring issues are, among others, judicial activism in the context of social benefits; and (3) recent thinking in EU legal scholarship in the area. Although all three themes are strongly inter-related, the first of them may be viewed as a macro-theme; the second as a micro-theme; and the third as a more critical and normative theme serving as a kind of self-reflective wing mirror.