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EUSOL Project - Solidarity in the European Union

Publics across Europe increasingly feel that the EU undermines the problem-solving capacities of its member states and aggravates political, social, and economic inequality both within and across them. For many years, scholars have wondered whether resolving the EU’s ‘democratic deficit’ might increase the EU’s legitimacy in the eyes of its constituent peoples. Many have also queried what ideal democratic institutions might look like at the EU level. Yet very few have asked what is, in many ways, a more fundamental question—a question, moreover, that underlies and reinforces the growing malaise among European publics: What principles of justice and solidarity, if any, ought to apply at the EU level? Is the EU unjust? We are familiar with debates on social justice and solidarity at the domestic and global level. But what about principles for an inter-, supra-, trans-national institution such as the EU? EUSOL seeks to provide philosophically sophisticated, empirically informed answers to these questions across a broad range of issues that currently divide the EU.

Economic Governance

What principles of justice and solidarity should guide evaluation (and reform) of Economic and Monetary Union? What principles, for example, should inform our reflection on proposals for new fiscal and budgetary powers at the EU level? What principles should we use to judge the relations between debtors and creditors? From the point of view of justice, should reform of EMU promote greater cross-national transfers and risk-sharing or prevent moral hazard and free-riding? Or, alternatively, what principles might help us in determining the mix of risk-reduction and risk-sharing? Similarly, what normative principles, e.g. of equality of opportunity, should govern an open, transnational labour market?

Social Policy

What principles of justice and solidarity should guide the formation of social policy and regulation at the EU level? Should the EU, as a matter of justice, aim to become a Social Union? If so, what kind? Should the EU aim to reduce cross-national inequalities among member states? Among individuals? Why or why not? What kinds of inequality (opportunity, power, income, wealth, status…)? What normative principles might underlie particular mixes of social policy (e.g., regarding social investment, unemployment insurance, basic income) at the EU level?

Citizenship

What principles of justice and solidarity should govern our understanding of EU citizenship? What reasons of justice and solidarity, if any, are there for maintaining open borders within the EU? (Would it be an injustice if borders were re-established between member states?) Do these reasons also support opening borders to third countries? What’s the difference? Are there normatively relevant differences between second- and third-country nationals with respect to admission, residence, access to social benefits and advantages, and equal treatment? Should a normative ideal of EU citizenship extend beyond free movement rights to, for example, include more significant social rights? If so, what kind?

Refugees

What principles of justice and solidarity should help us in shaping refugee policy in the EU? Should there be more burden-sharing? What counts as a ‘burden’, and what would be a fair allocation of costs among member states, refugees, and citizens? What role should freedom and equality of opportunity play in assessing whether refugees should be able to choose their country of destination once granted asylum? Is it an injustice to restrict mobility of refugees?

Enlargement

What principles of justice and solidarity should aid us in evaluating enlargement and exit from the union? Are there duties to enlarge? Duties to stay in? What principles ought to guide ‘divorce’ proceedings?

Further, and more differentiated, integration

Are there reasons of justice for moving toward a more closely-knit federation? Empirically, what would need to be the case for us to conclude that justice-based reasons to roll back the EU outweigh those in favour of its continued existence? What about more differentiated integration, where integration is deepened in some areas, but rolled back in others?

Publications

Special Symposium: 'Is Europe Just?' European Journal of Philosophy, 2022, 3(2)

Vandenbroucke, F. 'The EU’s role in income redistribution and insurance: support, norm-setter or provider? A review of justice-based arguments’, 471-487.

Sangiovanni, A. 'A More Just Union: Eurodividend or Reinsurance?’, 488-502.

Kollar, E. 'From Surplus Fairness to Prospect Fairness: Why a Deeply Egalitarian Social Union is Indispensable for a Free Europe’, 503-514.

Harb, S. 'A non-European European Union', 515-529.

Schemmel, C. 'The Union Shall Promote Social Justice’, 530-545.

Viehoff, J. 'Solidarity under Duress: Defending EU Member State Vigilantism’, 546-564.

 

Special Issue, Review of Social Economy

Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. 'Differentiated integration as a fair scheme of cooperation', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–23.

De Schutter, H. 'Solidarity and autonomy in the European Union', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–24.

Dietsch, P. 'Designing the fiscal-monetary nexus: policy options for the EU', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–18.

Ferrera, M. 'The European Union and cross-national solidarity: safeguarding ‘togetherness’ in hard times', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–25.

Follesdal, A. 'A just yet unequal European Union: a defense of moderate economic inequality', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–29.

Schelkle, W. 'Monetary solidarity in Europe: can divisive institutions become ‘moral opportunities’?', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–21.

 

Other articles

Sangiovanni, A. 'A more just union: Euro-dividend or reinsurance?' European Journal of Philosophy, 2021: 1-15.

Sangiovanni, A.  ‘Debating the Eu’s Raison D’être: On the Relation between Legitimacy and Justice’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 2019, 57(1): 13-27.

Viehoff, J.  ‘Equality of Opportunity in a European Social Market Economy’ Journal of Common Market Studies 2019, 57(1): 28-43.

 

Background articles

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Solidarity in the European Union’ Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 33: 213-41 (2013)

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Solidarity in the European Union: Problems and Prospects’ in The Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law, eds. Julie Dickson and Pavlos Eleftheriadis (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 384-412

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Non-Discrimination, in-Work Benefits, and the EU’, European Journal of Political Theory, Vol. 16, 2017, pp 143-63.

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Justice and the Free Movement of Persons: Educational Mobility in the EU and the US’ in Leadership and Global Justice, eds. D. Hicks and T. Williamson (Palgrave, 2012), pp. 131-57

Sangiovanni, A. ‘On Democracy and the “Public Interest”’, in Wolfgang Streeck and Renate Mainz, eds., Die Reformierbarkeit der Demokratie. Innovationen und Blockaden (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2002) (with Andrew Moravcsik), pp 122-48

Viehoff, J.  ‘Eurozone Justice’ The Journal of Political Philosophy 26:388-414 (2018)

Viehoff, J. ‘Maximum Convergence on a Just Minimum: A pluralist justification for European Social Policy’ European Journal of Political Theory 16:164-18 (2017)

Viehoff, J. and Nicolaidis, K.  ‘Just Boundaries for Demoicrats’ Journal of European Integration 39:591-607 (2017)

Viehoff, J. and Nicolaidi, K. ‘Social Justice in the European Union: The Puzzles of Solidarity, Reciprocity and Choice’ in: Gráinne de Búrca und Andrew Williams (eds.) Europe’s Justice Deficit? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2015)

Conferences

 

 

 

Book Workshop: Towards a Just Europe by Joao Labareda

17 June 2021

Program

9:00- 9:10      Welcome and Introductions

9:10-9:30       Introduction: The problem of Distributive Justice in the EU - Siba Harb (KCL)

9:30-9:50      Chapter 1: Two Distributive Duties - Pablo Puertas (EUI)

9:50- 10:10    Chapter 2: Democratic Redistribution in the EU - Sara Amighetti (University of Zurich)

10:20-10:40   Chapter 3: Economic Reciprocity in the EU - Andrea Sangiovanni (KCL)

10:40-11:00    Chapter 4: A Moderate Feasibility Test for Normative Theory - Jelena Belic (Leiden University)

11:00-11:20    Chapter 5: Realising Distributive Justice in the EU - Miklos Zala (Centre for Social Sciences-Institute for Political Science, HASCE)

11:30- 12:00:  From academia to policy - a conversation with João Labareda

 

 

Solidarity in EU refugee and asylum policy

7-8 June 2021, KCL (via Zoom)

Organizers: Andrea Sangiovanni (KCL) and Siba Harb (KCL)

Almost everyone thinks that the current EU system of rules governing asylum seekers and refugees is problematic. The system has failed to harness the bloc’s collective resources to address, in a just manner, the challenge posed by the sudden influx of migrants in 2015 and the continued arrivals since. And it is no doubt ill-prepared for the future of regular and irregular flows to Europe. But what would be a better system and why? In September 2020, the European Commission released its ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’. The pact includes a reform package to Dublin regulations; significantly, it purports to strike the right balance between responsibility and solidarity. But many commentators are skeptical that the new pact brings anything new to the table, and, in many areas, may be a step back.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together top legal and policy-oriented scholars with political philosophers working in related areas to discuss what a just system of rules for EU asylum seekers and refugees would look like. In particular, participants are encouraged to reflect on the question of what a fair distribution of responsibilities for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees requires in Europe. The aim of the workshop is to be bold in its proposals and principles, in the realization that ‘to achieve the possible we must sometimes reach out for the impossible’ (Weber). The workshop is funded by an ERC Grant, no. 771635, ‘Solidarity in the European Union’ (EUSOL).

 

 

Event Series: Conversations for the Future of Europe

A series of events tackling major European challenges: Conversations for the Future of Eruope 2020 and Conversations for the Future of Eruope  2019

 Is Europe Unjust?

16-17 September 2019, European University Institute

 Solidarity: Its Nature and Value

16-17 May 2019, European University Institute

Publications

Special Symposium: 'Is Europe Just?' European Journal of Philosophy, 2022, 3(2)

Vandenbroucke, F. 'The EU’s role in income redistribution and insurance: support, norm-setter or provider? A review of justice-based arguments’, 471-487.

Sangiovanni, A. 'A More Just Union: Eurodividend or Reinsurance?’, 488-502.

Kollar, E. 'From Surplus Fairness to Prospect Fairness: Why a Deeply Egalitarian Social Union is Indispensable for a Free Europe’, 503-514.

Harb, S. 'A non-European European Union', 515-529.

Schemmel, C. 'The Union Shall Promote Social Justice’, 530-545.

Viehoff, J. 'Solidarity under Duress: Defending EU Member State Vigilantism’, 546-564.

 

Special Issue, Review of Social Economy

Bellamy, R. and Kröger, S. 'Differentiated integration as a fair scheme of cooperation', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–23.

De Schutter, H. 'Solidarity and autonomy in the European Union', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–24.

Dietsch, P. 'Designing the fiscal-monetary nexus: policy options for the EU', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–18.

Ferrera, M. 'The European Union and cross-national solidarity: safeguarding ‘togetherness’ in hard times', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–25.

Follesdal, A. 'A just yet unequal European Union: a defense of moderate economic inequality', Review of Social Economy, 2021: 1–29.

Schelkle, W. 'Monetary solidarity in Europe: can divisive institutions become ‘moral opportunities’?', Review of Social Economy, 2022: 1–21.

 

Other articles

Sangiovanni, A. 'A more just union: Euro-dividend or reinsurance?' European Journal of Philosophy, 2021: 1-15.

Sangiovanni, A.  ‘Debating the Eu’s Raison D’être: On the Relation between Legitimacy and Justice’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 2019, 57(1): 13-27.

Viehoff, J.  ‘Equality of Opportunity in a European Social Market Economy’ Journal of Common Market Studies 2019, 57(1): 28-43.

 

Background articles

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Solidarity in the European Union’ Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 33: 213-41 (2013)

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Solidarity in the European Union: Problems and Prospects’ in The Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law, eds. Julie Dickson and Pavlos Eleftheriadis (Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 384-412

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Non-Discrimination, in-Work Benefits, and the EU’, European Journal of Political Theory, Vol. 16, 2017, pp 143-63.

Sangiovanni, A. ‘Justice and the Free Movement of Persons: Educational Mobility in the EU and the US’ in Leadership and Global Justice, eds. D. Hicks and T. Williamson (Palgrave, 2012), pp. 131-57

Sangiovanni, A. ‘On Democracy and the “Public Interest”’, in Wolfgang Streeck and Renate Mainz, eds., Die Reformierbarkeit der Demokratie. Innovationen und Blockaden (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2002) (with Andrew Moravcsik), pp 122-48

Viehoff, J.  ‘Eurozone Justice’ The Journal of Political Philosophy 26:388-414 (2018)

Viehoff, J. ‘Maximum Convergence on a Just Minimum: A pluralist justification for European Social Policy’ European Journal of Political Theory 16:164-18 (2017)

Viehoff, J. and Nicolaidis, K.  ‘Just Boundaries for Demoicrats’ Journal of European Integration 39:591-607 (2017)

Viehoff, J. and Nicolaidi, K. ‘Social Justice in the European Union: The Puzzles of Solidarity, Reciprocity and Choice’ in: Gráinne de Búrca und Andrew Williams (eds.) Europe’s Justice Deficit? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2015)

Conferences

 

 

 

Book Workshop: Towards a Just Europe by Joao Labareda

17 June 2021

Program

9:00- 9:10      Welcome and Introductions

9:10-9:30       Introduction: The problem of Distributive Justice in the EU - Siba Harb (KCL)

9:30-9:50      Chapter 1: Two Distributive Duties - Pablo Puertas (EUI)

9:50- 10:10    Chapter 2: Democratic Redistribution in the EU - Sara Amighetti (University of Zurich)

10:20-10:40   Chapter 3: Economic Reciprocity in the EU - Andrea Sangiovanni (KCL)

10:40-11:00    Chapter 4: A Moderate Feasibility Test for Normative Theory - Jelena Belic (Leiden University)

11:00-11:20    Chapter 5: Realising Distributive Justice in the EU - Miklos Zala (Centre for Social Sciences-Institute for Political Science, HASCE)

11:30- 12:00:  From academia to policy - a conversation with João Labareda

 

 

Solidarity in EU refugee and asylum policy

7-8 June 2021, KCL (via Zoom)

Organizers: Andrea Sangiovanni (KCL) and Siba Harb (KCL)

Almost everyone thinks that the current EU system of rules governing asylum seekers and refugees is problematic. The system has failed to harness the bloc’s collective resources to address, in a just manner, the challenge posed by the sudden influx of migrants in 2015 and the continued arrivals since. And it is no doubt ill-prepared for the future of regular and irregular flows to Europe. But what would be a better system and why? In September 2020, the European Commission released its ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’. The pact includes a reform package to Dublin regulations; significantly, it purports to strike the right balance between responsibility and solidarity. But many commentators are skeptical that the new pact brings anything new to the table, and, in many areas, may be a step back.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together top legal and policy-oriented scholars with political philosophers working in related areas to discuss what a just system of rules for EU asylum seekers and refugees would look like. In particular, participants are encouraged to reflect on the question of what a fair distribution of responsibilities for the protection of asylum seekers and refugees requires in Europe. The aim of the workshop is to be bold in its proposals and principles, in the realization that ‘to achieve the possible we must sometimes reach out for the impossible’ (Weber). The workshop is funded by an ERC Grant, no. 771635, ‘Solidarity in the European Union’ (EUSOL).

 

 

Event Series: Conversations for the Future of Europe

A series of events tackling major European challenges: Conversations for the Future of Eruope 2020 and Conversations for the Future of Eruope  2019

 Is Europe Unjust?

16-17 September 2019, European University Institute

 Solidarity: Its Nature and Value

16-17 May 2019, European University Institute

Our Partners

ERC logo

European Research Council

EU

European Union

Project status: Ongoing
eusol-logo

Principal Investigator

Investigator

Funding

Funding Body: European Research Council

Amount: €1,113,000

Period: September 2018 - August 2023

Contact us

Andrea Sangiovanni (Project Director)

Dept of Philosophy
King's College London
London WC2R 2LS

Eleonora Milazzo (Research Associate)

Dept of Philosophy
King's College London
London WC2R 2LS