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Welfare States and Social Europe

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Social Services of General Interest in the EU

Part of the book series: Legal Issues of Services of General Interest ((LEGAL))

Abstract

This chapter examines the tensions between welfare states, on the one hand, and social Europe on the other, and the colliding principles in their historical setting. In particular, this chapter focuses on SSGIs as core institutions of the welfare state and the political response to the European impact on these public services, looking in particular at health care and long-term care. The findings point out that that although Member States attempt to create ‘safe havens’ to protect their welfare policies from European law, these may not prove to be lasting firewalls against the ‘creeping competences’ of the EU. Over time SSGIs have become Europeanized, limiting the scope and policy options for national politicians and national administrations. Additionally, the administrative space of SSGIs is increasingly multi-level, forcing administrators at all levels to take EU rules into account, when welfare programs are designed, adopted, and administered.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Eichenhofer 1999a, 2000; Ferrera 2003.

  2. 2.

    Giddens 1994, pp. 136–137.

  3. 3.

    As formulated by AG Tesauro in his Opinions of 16 September 1997 in CJEU, Cases C-120/95 Decker [1998] ECR I-01831 and C-158/96 Kohll [1998] ECR I-01931; Eichenhofer 1999b, p. 102.

  4. 4.

    Ferrera 2005, 2009.

  5. 5.

    Von Maydell 1999, p. 9; Scharpf 2002, p. 645.

  6. 6.

    Leibfried 2010.

  7. 7.

    Leibfried 2010.

  8. 8.

    Scharpf 2002, p. 665.

  9. 9.

    Scharpf 2002, 2010.

  10. 10.

    Leibfried and Pierson 1995, p. 65; Scharpf 2002, p. 666; Maduro 2000, p. 327.

  11. 11.

    Scharpf 2010.

  12. 12.

    Leibfried 2010.

  13. 13.

    Martinsen 2005a, 2009.

  14. 14.

    Article 51 Treaty establishing the EEC 1957; Holloway 1981; Romero 1993.

  15. 15.

    Article 119 Treaty establishing the EEC 1957; Cichowski 2001, pp. 116–117; Martinsen 2007, pp. 548–549.

  16. 16.

    Falkner examines what she terms as the main fields EU social regulation as health and safety, other working conditions and equality at the workplace. Falkner 2010, p. 293.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.

  18. 18.

    Directive 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the Application of Patients’ Rights in Cross-Border Healthcare, OJ 2011 L 88; van de Gronden et al. 2011; Martinsen 2009.

  19. 19.

    Ferrera 2009.

  20. 20.

    Ibid. p. 227.

  21. 21.

    For a conceptual discussion of social services of general interests, see the Chap. 9 in this volume, by Neergaard.

  22. 22.

    See the Chap. 15 in this volume, by Baeten and Palm for a detailed account on the preservation of general interests in health care.

  23. 23.

    In the CJEU, Cases C-120/95 Decker [1998] ECR I-01831 and C-158/96 Kohll [1998] ECR I-1931.

  24. 24.

    Langer 1999, p. 54.

  25. 25.

    Der Spiegel 17/98, Fokus from 4 May 1998; Eichenhofer 1999b, p. 114.

  26. 26.

    Martinsen and Falkner 2011.

  27. 27.

    Ibid.

  28. 28.

    CJEU, Case C-157/99 Geraets-Smits and Peerbooms [2001] ECR I-5473.

  29. 29.

    CJEU, Case C-385/99 Müller-Fauré [2003] ECR I-4509.

  30. 30.

    Commission, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Services in the Internal Market, COM(2004) 2, 5 March 2004.

  31. 31.

    Szyszczak 2011, pp. 116–117.

  32. 32.

    Jensen and Nedergaard 2011.

  33. 33.

    EU Observer, 19 December 2007.

  34. 34.

    Martinsen 2009.

  35. 35.

    EU Observer, 7 February 2008.

  36. 36.

    Martinsen 2009.

  37. 37.

    Dagens Medicin, 1 February 2008; Politiken, 11 January 2008; Politiken, 19 January 2008.

  38. 38.

    Politiken, 10 January 2008.

  39. 39.

    Commission, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Application of Patients’ Rights in Cross-Border Health Care, COM(2008) 414, 2 July 2008.

  40. 40.

    EurActiv, 24 April 2009.

  41. 41.

    Szyszczak 2011, p. 118.

  42. 42.

    Directive 2011/24/EU, para 2 of the preamble lays down that; ‘Article 114 TFEU is the appropriate legal basis since the majority of the provisions of this Directive aim to improve the functioning of the internal market and the free movement of goods, persons and services’.

  43. 43.

    Szyszczak 2011, pp. 116–117.

  44. 44.

    Martinsen 2005b.

  45. 45.

    I.e. Regulation No. 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the Application of Social Security. Schemes to Migrant Workers, OJ 1971 L149, and its predecessor Regulation No. 3 of 25 September 1958, OJ 1958 30.

  46. 46.

    Szyszczak 2011, pp. 120–122.

  47. 47.

    Also emphasized in the Opinion of AG Cosmas of 9 December 1997 in CJEU, Case C-160/96 Molenaar [1998] ECR I-843; Igl 1998.

  48. 48.

    See Commission, Commission Staff Working Paper, Second Biennial Report on Social Services of General Interest, SEC(2010) 1284 final, 22 October 2010, p. 40.

  49. 49.

    Ibid.

  50. 50.

    Commission, Commission Report, Long-Term Care in the European Union, 2008, p. 10.

  51. 51.

    Regulation No. 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems, previously Regulation No. 1408/71, OJ 2004 L 166/1.

  52. 52.

    Martinsen 2005b.

  53. 53.

    Igl and Stadelmann 1998, p. 37.

  54. 54.

    Igl 1998, p. 23.

  55. 55.

    CJEU, Case C-160/96 Manfred Molenaar and Barbara Fath-Molenaar v. Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Baden-Württemberg [1998] ECR I-880.

  56. 56.

    Ibid. para 20.

  57. 57.

    Huster 1999, p. 12.

  58. 58.

    Zuleeg 1998, p. 172.

  59. 59.

    CJEU, Case C-160/96 Manfred Molenaar and Barbara Fath-Molenaar v. Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Baden-Württemberg [1998] ECR 1998 I-880, para 36.

  60. 60.

    CJEU, Case C-215/99 Frederich Jauch v. Pensionsversicherungsanstalt der Arbeiter [2001] ECR I-1901.

  61. 61.

    In concrete, the Austrian government had listed the benefit in Annex IIa of Regulation 1408/71, an Annex according to which the member governments in the Council of Ministers could insert certain benefits and thus make them non-exportable.

  62. 62.

    CJEU, Case C-215/99 Frederich Jauch v. Pensionsversicherungsanstalt der Arbeiter [2001] ECR I-1901, para 26.

  63. 63.

    Chapter 13 in this volume, by Szyszczak.

  64. 64.

    Börzel and Panke 2010, pp. 405–418.

  65. 65.

    Schmidt 2002; Radaelli 2003; Caporaso 2007, pp. 23–35.

  66. 66.

    Martinsen and Vrangbæk 2008; Kallestrup 2005.

  67. 67.

    Tallberg 2002, p. 614.

  68. 68.

    Tallberg 2002, 2003.

  69. 69.

    Falkner et al. 2005; Versluis 2007.

  70. 70.

    Tallberg 2002, 2003; Slepcevic 2009.

  71. 71.

    Leibfried and Pierson 1995, p. 51.

  72. 72.

    See Chap. 9 in this volume, by Neergaard.

  73. 73.

    Ferrera 2005, 2009.

  74. 74.

    Martinsen 2005a.

  75. 75.

    Ferrera 2009, p. 221.

  76. 76.

    Szyszczak 2009.

  77. 77.

    Zuleeg 1998, p. 172.

  78. 78.

    See for this discussion, SEC(2010) 1284 final, pp. 70–74.

  79. 79.

    Ferrera 2009.

  80. 80.

    Pollack 2000.

  81. 81.

    See AG Tesauro’s Opinions of 16 September 1997 in CJEU, Cases C-120/95 Decker [1998] ECR I-01831 and C-158/96 Kohll [1998] ECR I-01931.

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Martinsen, D.S. (2013). Welfare States and Social Europe. In: Neergaard, U., Szyszczak, E., van de Gronden, J., Krajewski, M. (eds) Social Services of General Interest in the EU. Legal Issues of Services of General Interest. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague, The Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-6704-876-7_3

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