The Ethics of Capitalism - Social Europe Journal

What does
Brussels Want
Photo: Nicole Sturz
Christian Tenbrock
Journalist with DIE
ZEIT (Germany)
Book Review
Diversity and
Commonality in
European Social
Policies: The Forging
of a European Social
Model
Editors: Stanislawa Golinowska, Peter
Hengstenberg and Maciej Zukowski
ISBN 978-83-7383-347-0
427pp.
MAYBE NOW, IN the midst of
the slump, is not the right
moment in time to be pondering
an integrated social policy for
Europe, as other issues appear more
pressing and the economic downturn
seems to dominate everything. But
maybe now is in fact precisely the right
time to be considering these things: it is
a time to remind Europe of its similarities,
its traditions and its shared values.
And it is a time to provide the
European Union with a project that
looks beyond the current crisis.
In a new edited volume, the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has addressed
this issue. In it scientists from western
and eastern Europe describe different
social models in seven EU member
states and ask whether they could form
the basis of a common European model.
The continent is tied together by a
set of common values, whose most
fundamental aspect is the striving for
solidarity and equality, writes Peter
Hengstenberg, head of the Friedrich-
Ebert-Stiftung in Warsaw and co-editor
of the book. The Polish sociologist
Stanislawa Golinowska takes this even
further. She claims that in comparison
to the rest of the world, income
inequality in Europe is on average
lower and the role of the state in providing
social security is far greater than
in most other countries. European
countries therefore show ‘similarities
that clearly distinguish them from
other developed parts of the world.’
However, within these similarities
there are diversities. The EU member
states have always chosen to follow
divergent paths. This does not only
apply to the way in which they finance
their welfare states. While the Danes
do this predominantly through taxes,
the Germans and Czechs instead tend
to finance it through social insurance
contributions. Generally speaking,
great differences also exist in the way
in which some nations use social policy
simply as a means of retroactively
correcting problems caused by the failures
of the market (Great Britain), aiding
mainly families and the unemployed
(Italy, France, Germany) - or
actively creating greater social equality
through state intervention
(Scandinavia).
These different approaches can lead
to conflicts when the task of formulating
a European social policy arises or
even just when individual common
measures are discussed. These conflicts
have been intensified by the
accession of central and eastern
45 Social Europe Journal Summer 2009