The State of European Social Rights and European Social Citizenship

This Flagship report brings together the research of the EuSocialCit project about the State of European Social Rights and European Social Citizenship. It consists of 12 chapters covering all substantive work packages of the project. After the introduction, chapter 2 presents a novel, multi-level, power resource-based conceptualization of EU social rights that considers a social right as a bundle of three types of individual power resources: normative, instrumental and enforcement power resources. These three power resources are needed for the concrete fruition of the content of social rights by individuals. Chapter 3 discusses the extent to which the EU social rights that emerged after the adoption of the EPSR introduce these three types of power resources or fail to do so. Chapter 4 further develops the concept of instrumental power resources, the most innovative aspect of the conceptualization presented in chapter 2 and crucial for making social rights accessible to citizens.
Chapter 5 analyzes the implementation of the EU’s Work-Life Balance Directive in five member states, the extent to which this implementation offers instrumental resources to right holders, and how differences between countries concerning the availability of instrumental resources affect the actual take up of parental leave. Chapter 6 discusses the normative (legal) and instrumental power resources available to platform workers in Spain and the Netherlands and how the differences in their availability affect the fairness of working conditions. And Chapter 7 presents a quantitative analysis of the relationship between the three types of power resources and the take up of social rights, social spending and social outcomes, focusing on the social-rights realms of worker unemployment and employment.
Chapter 8 addresses the question if the focus of the current EU social rights and social policy approach on employment and gender equality is instrumental for delivering on the 2030 poverty and social inclusion targets, or if it requires stronger attention to social protection. Chapter 9 discusses the social challenges related to housing in the EU as well as the way in which national and EU policies succeed in strengthening housing rights and ensuring housing availability, affordability and adequacy, in particular for the less well off. Chapter 10 scrutinizes the tangible impact of the evolving EU approach to social investment on the social rights of European citizens and, consequently, their empowerment, focusing in particular on investment in Early Childhood Education and Care.
Chapter 11 studies citizens’ views on the European social rights and social citizenship and what role they see for the EU in social policy. Finally, chapter 12 presents conclusions.