Are we Heading Towards a Single European Welfare State
... ) defines the welfare state as “an ideal model of provision, where the state accepts responsibility for the provision of comprehensive and universal welfare for its citizens.” Throughout the European Union, there are four basic welfare models: the Liberal model, the Conservative model, the Social-Democratic model and the Southern model. With the European Union continuously expanding, both within itself and externally, these regimes are being put in jeopardy. With every policy that the European Union makes, “spillover” effects cause each member state to make changes in their welfare system, in order to meet requirements. If all the members are striving to reach the same standard within the European Union, will they eventually converge into a Single European Welfare model? I would like to look at three major areas that affect the welfare regimes of Europe. Firstly, we will look at monetary policy within the European Union. Next, we will ask if the ten candidate countries, which join the EU on 1st May 2004, will tend towards any other model. Finally, we will ask if policies from the European Union, on family, work and pensions, affect the national welfare regimes. As Heien (2000) tells us, “European Integration has led to a considerable erosion of the sovereignty and autonomy of national social policies.” He goes on to suggest that this is “not as a result of an activist role of the Council, the Commission, the Parliament, or the European Court of Justice but as “spillovers” from the single market initiative the sovereign welfare states transformed into “parts of a multi-tiered system of social policy”” (Heien, 2000, citing Leibfried & Pierson, 1999). Hämäläinen (2001) agrees, “National social policies are increasingly influenced by global economic factors and international organizations, such as…the European Union, as well as…supranational regulations.” But she does point out to us that, “globalization does not necessarily mean standardizing and harmonizing national social policies and social welfare systems.” (Hämäläinen, 2001) One policy that has affected the welfare states of Europe is the Stability Pact of 1997.