Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

For a new European ‘normality’

Javier López and Jo Ritzen 28th May 2020

Our way of life as we knew it won’t return, but will the ‘new normality’ herald a common European future?

new normality
Javier López

The coronavirus has proved a deadly invisible threat—not only to the health of the citizenry but also the stability of our political and economic system. The governments of the member states and the institutions of the European Union are racing against time, to find a response which safeguards millions of jobs and avoids a recession with unpredictable electoral side-effects.

We are facing a crisis, deeper even than the global financial crisis of 2008, which threatens to leave a burdensome legacy to future generations. And there are the aggravating circumstance of challenges as pressing as climate change, demographic imbalance and an almost chronic seizing up of our asylum system.

new normality
Jo Ritzen

Public administrations will have to fight against the inertia of defaulting back to the ‘old normality’ and collaborate instead on a visionary new strategy—capable not only of finding a way out of this crisis but also of being better prepared for others to come—which manages to achieve a social and sustainable Europe with a stronger public domain.

Perfect storm

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the lockdown and social distancing measures could cause the major economies to lose up to a third of their annual gross domestic product and unemployment to reach heights of up to 25 per cent in some EU countries. This, together with a dramatic fall in tax revenues and unavoidable large-scale national indebtedness, creates a perfect storm for any social and democratic state which very few national budgets can face on their own.

Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content.


We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Thank you!

Please check your inbox and click on the link in the confirmation email to complete your newsletter subscription.

.

Without a proper long-term strategy, social safety nets and welfare-state architectures could collapse. The financing of healthcare and education, as well as opportunities for young people in the labour market, could be severely constrained.

The previous crises have led us to greater income inequality, greater uncertainty among citizens and a standstill—even a regression—in the struggle for ecological sustainability. We had not yet recovered from all that when we were plunged into another global, systemic crisis.

This time, however, the EU faces a golden opportunity to speed up the necessary transitions and put an end to its strategic vulnerabilities. If countries work together in the union they can achieve far more than the sum of individual efforts.

Investment packages

The EU must deploy assistance and investment packages from the perspective of solidarity, ambition and the green transition, setting targets which lead to greater sustainability, full employment, quality public services and a fair tax revolution to finance a truly social Europe. It is essential to develop a real European fiscal arm—the Recovery Fund and a strengthened multi-annual financial framework have the potential for that.

This is also the time to introduce EU-wide tax rules preventing unfair practices among member states and EU-wide taxes on multinational companies. Digital services should be taxed on the European level and a European wealth tax would further favour European convergence. All this would enable us to ensure social needs are met and avoid the debt trap in some EU countries.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

The fight against climate change, already at the top of the European agenda before the pandemic, is now more important than ever: global heating and lack of food security only increase the chances of further zoonotic pandemics. The EU has already announced legislation to ensure the implementation of its sustainability policy and it is essential we stay on track—even if economic recovery will undoubtedly come with strong pressures to weaken our environmental agenda and loosen standards. The green transformation must be one of the main pillars of the European recovery plan, to which we must add the necessary ‘digital push’ of our economy and a strengthening of strategic European industries.

Full employment

At the same time, EU support programmes should tackle the much-needed transformation of our employment systems with the clear aim of achieving full employment—improving the transition between education and work to stem the impact of these crises on youth. Such programmes should also embrace strategies for adapting and updating the skills of workers in almost obsolete sectors.

Strengthening our welfare state and improving the quality of our public services further requires enhancing the wages of public-sector workers. A strong welfare state is a guarantee of a society which is more robust, more cohesive and more resilient in the face of such crises as the one we are experiencing.

Countries with weaker governance have proved more vulnerable to adverse shocks. Both at a European and a national level, we should promote reforms which enhance institutional quality: accountability, transparency and digital governance.

Global co-operation

The world is becoming more and more fractured, contentious, nationalistic and defined by attacks against multilateralism and its institutions, such as the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization. Europe must stand up for its founding values and the global co-operation essential to tackle current and future challenges.

This also requires greater political co-operation within the EU, to ensure a long-term, strategic focus prevails over immediate electoral interests—without disregarding the need to fight against Euroscepticism and widen public support for the European project, which we cannot take for granted. Nothing is more effective in this regard than a protective and useful Europe—a source of political, economic and social security in a setting of radical uncertainty.

Returning to the world before the coronavirus is neither possible nor desirable. We are facing an opportunity for real change. We have the chance to implement a strategy for a better European future, held in common, which we must not waste: it might turn out to be the last one.

Javier López and Jo Ritzen

Javier López has been a Spanish member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is chair of its delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and a member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Jo Ritzen is a professor at UNU-MERIT and the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. He was previously Dutch minister for education and science, vice-president of the World Bank for research and human development and president of Maastricht University.

Home ・ Politics ・ For a new European ‘normality’

Most Popular Posts

Ukraine,workers' rights,laws,labour,protection,liberalisation,zero hours Ukraine to pass laws wrecking workers’ rightsThomas Rowley and Serhiy Guz
airport chaos,chaos at airports,queues, security, key workers,essential workers Airport chaos: security guards and cleaners still keyMark Bergfeld
China,Ukraine China to the rescue?Branko Milanovic
Boris Johnson, Brexit, Conservative,conservatism Boris Johnson: blustering onPaul Mason
deglobalisation,deglobalization,Davos Getting deglobalisation rightJoseph Stiglitz

Most Recent Posts

labour law,ukraine,trade unions,social dialogue,ILO,International Labour Organization Ukraine could abandon key labour principleThomas Rowley and Serhiy Guz
cars,vehicles,transport,industry,jobs,skills,Europe,retraining Vehicles and just transition—turning the wheelSarah Mewes and Gloria Koepke
hybrid working,working from home,new normal Blurring of boundaries in work’s ‘new normal’Rolf Schmucker
ECB,European Central Bank,Draghi,whatever it takes,euro ‘Whatever it takes’, ten years onLászló Andor and David Rinaldi
pandemic preparedness,pandemic response,financial intermediary fund,FIF,Covid-19 Effective pandemic response must be truly globalMariana Mazzucato and Jayati Ghosh

Other Social Europe Publications

National recovery and resilience plans
The transatlantic relationship
Women and the coronavirus crisis
RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?
US election 2020

Eurofound advertisement

Fifth round of the Living, working and Covid-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty

The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, sampled between March 25th and May 2nd 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after Covid-19 was first detected on the European continent. It also explores the reality of living in a new era of uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, inflation and rising energy prices. The e-survey reveals the heavy toll of the pandemic, with respondents reporting lower trust in institutions than at the onset, poorer mental wellbeing, a rise in unmet healthcare need and an increase in households experiencing energy poverty.


AVAILABLE HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Discover the summer issue of the Progressive Post!

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out! It offers compelling analysis on: the energy-crisis challenge, Ukraine war, western Balkans, enlargement, housing crisis, rural areas, minimum wage and much more!

Almost five months into the war, and against the backdrop of soaring energy prices, rising inflation, a changing international order, rampant disinformation, the Ukrainian refugee emergency and all the other consequences triggered by the Russian war against Ukraine, the EU finds itself at a historic turning point. It must choose between sticking together, taking bold decisions, and acting accordingly—or, on the other side, allowing indecisiveness and divisions to gain the upper hand.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


FREE DOWNLOAD

ETUI advertisement

Workers on the route

Discover the new issue of HesaMag, the health and safety magazine with a European view (aussi disponible en français), published twice a year by the ETUI, and take your seat for an exclusive journey through the day-to-day reality of transport workers across Europe, from Romanian drivers to Dutch dockers and French female flight attendants, just to name a few.


MORE INFORMATION HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us on social media

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube