Stand und Entwicklung einer Koordinierung nationaler Sozialpolitiken in der EU: Kosten und Nutzen aus fiskalischer und sozialpolitischer Perspektive

FWF

The project adresses the impact of European unification on the national systems of social security. The objective is to provide a framework for studying the effects of the current European portability and coordination scheme for social security benefits within the European Economic Area. To simplify the analysis, it focuses on one of the many aspects of social security related to old age – long-term care provision. This branch of social security still lacks attention and a systematic approach in some European countries. As a consequence, national (and sub-national) solutions to long-term care are not fully compatible with each other, which poses a variety of challenges to the current systems of long-term care provision: Since in a single European market workers and their kin are thought to move as freely as in a national labour market, the national social security systems face claims made from abroad. Critics fear that European integration and the free movement of labour may undermine the notion of solidarity most member states adhere to. The project intends to rationalise these fears by studying to what extent respective effects of Europeanisation may evolve. For this purpose it identifies the current European portability scheme,offers a framework for analysing possible effects of the scheme on the macro- and microeconomic level and discusses political options for policy coordination.