Promoting Solidarity in the European Union

The European Commission has claimed that 'Solidarity is part of how European society works...'. But how are we to understand solidarity, and what are its implications to Government policy? This book addresses the question of what solidarity might mean today and its relevance to the purposesof the European Union and the way it functions. Is solidarity just a slogan or can it have meaningful legal and policy content? This book brings together contributions from leading scholars in law, politics and sociology to discuss an idea that is coming under fresh scrutiny at a time when the EU'sdirection following the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty is hotly debated. The book engages with both the content and limitations of solidarity as a concept in political and legal debate, and its application to specific fields such as migration, education and pensions policies.The book provides a thoughtful and provocative analysis of the power and potential of solidarity, applying a sceptical and rigorous assessment of the conditions necessary for it to make a difference to the European political and legal space at a time when traditional manifestations of nationalsolidarity (e.g. in health care) are perceived to be under threat from EU market liberalization policies. A number of contributions consider whether an EU concept of solidarity is possible and how that might affect the balance between market and social priorities for the Union's future.If the EU is to be more than just a market, promoting solidarity as a value and a principle has a key role. This rich collection of essays explores how solidarity might fulfil its status as a core value for the Union.

Malcolm Ross has been Professor of European Law at the University of Sussex since 2000. He has written extensively on a range of EU law topics, especially state aid, services of general economic interest and the constitutional jurisprudence of the Court of Justice. He is currently completing a monograph on Solidarity in EU Law, also to be published by OUP.

Yuri Borgmann-Prebil is currently Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex. He holds degrees from the Universities of Cologne, East Anglia and Sussex.

1. Promoting European solidarity - between rhetoric and reality?, Yuri Borgmann-Prebil and Malcolm Ross
2. Solidarity - a new constitutional paradigm for the EU?, Malcolm Ross
3. Mission impossible? Limits and perils of institutionalizing post-national social policy, Wolfram Lamping
4. Solidarity and the Commission's 'Renewed Social Agenda', Catherine Barnard
5. The price of letting courts value solidarity: the judicial role in liberalising welfare, Gareth Davies
6. When patients exit, what happens to solidarity?, Clemens Rieder
7. EU environmental solidarity and the ecological consumer: towards a republican citizenship, Chris Hilson
8. Irregular migrants: beyond the limits of solidarity?, Mark Bell
9. A certain degree of solidarity? Free movement of persons and access to social protection in the case law of the European Court of Justice, Stefano Giubboni
10. Age discrimination in law and policy: how the Equal Treatment Directive affects national welfare states, Deborah Mabbett
11. Promoting the multi-pillar model? The EU and the development of funded pension schemes, Karen Anderson
12. How to govern for solidarity? An introduction to policy learning in the context of open methods of co-ordinating education policies in the European Union, Bettina Lange and Nafsika Alexiadou
13. Relating territorial cohesion, solidarity, and spatial justice, Jane Holder