Social Rights And The European Monetary Union

This thought-provoking book examines the state of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and its shortcomings in terms of social rights protection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Euro crisis. Providing a critical analysis of the basic tenets of European economic governance, it highlights current challenges for a Social Europe and proposes new avenues for tackling these issues.

Presenting a sweeping analysis of the legal foundations, institutions, and substantive legal issues in EU monetary integration, The EU Law of Economic and Monetary Union serves as an authoritative reference on the legal framework of European economic and monetary union. The book opens by setting out the broader contexts for the European project - historical, economic, political, and regarding the international framework. It goes on to examine the constitutional architecture of EMU; the main institutions and their legal powers; the core legal provisions of monetary and economic union; and the relationship of EMU with EU financial market and banking regulation. The concluding section analyses the current EMU crisis and the main avenues of future reform.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Table of cases -- Part I Introduction -- 1 Social rights, the Welfare State and European austerity -- Part II European case studies -- 2 France -- 3 Germany -- 4 Italy -- 5 Spain -- 6 The United Kingdom -- 7 Austerity, conditionality and litigation in six European countries -- Part III Theoretical discussions -- 8 Should a minimum income be unconditional? -- 9 The social dimension of fundamental rights in times of crisis -- 10 Social rights and welfare reform in times of economic crisis -- 11 The political economy of European social rights -- 12 Economic crisis and territorial asymmetrical effects on the guarantee of social rights within the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) -- 13 Free movement of persons and transnational solidarity in the European Union (EU): a melancholic eulogy -- Index

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Presents extracts from the the Constitutions of the EU member states and candidate countries.

Assessments of the politics of European integration in general, and monetary union in particular, are many. In fact, the study of the European Union has become an academic growth industry. This book contributes to the debate a specific theoretical focus and practical perspective. The volume provides a critique of the political economy of European integration and its unique focus and scholarly analysis make it an indispensable contribution to a renewal of the Marxist critique of European integration.

If the plans concerning EMU will be realised, by 2002 national currencies will be replaced by the Euro and national central banks will be partially replaced by the European Central Bank. The Politics of Economic and Monetary Union starts with the argument that EMU is more a political than an economic project. It develops this theme by addressing five different questions. First, precisely what is the general role of EMU in the globalising political economy? Second, how EMU will change the power relations and the relationship between `political' and `economic'? Third, what effects will EMU have on generally accepted values - including for example efficiency, self-determination, and democracy? Fourth, how does the EMU-related politics of symbols - including money - take part in constructing political identities? And last, but certainly not least, what effects EMU will have on the social and political dimension of the Union and thus also on its legitimacy? The politics of EMU includes many dimensions. The book tries to explain the hegemony of the neoliberal and German vision of Europe in the context of recent development in the global political economy. It assesses the consequences of this hegemony and the possibility for alternatives from a variety of perspectives. In many chapters, it is also argued that the legitimation problems of the Union may turn into an acute crisis also because of EMU. We should expect an actualised crisis to lead to a transformation of the Union.