In the past decades the coordination of social security provisions of the European Union have become of vital importance. This book gives a clear overview of the main lines and main developments of this significant part of EU law. On 1 May 2010 a new Coordination Regulation on social security for migrant workers, Regulation 883/2004, came into force. Since then there has been important case law and there have been very interesting developments, in particular in the area of posting of workers and the influence of the Treaty on the interpretation of coordination provisions. Also the development of the concept of EU citizenship has had an important impact on access to social rights. This book gives a clear overview of these developments, their effects on national case law and the differences with the old coordination Regulation. A second main part of EU social security law is that of social policy. In this book the main developments of the equal treatment law of men and women are explained and in addition the present social policy measures and the instruments employed in this area are outlined.

Within the European Union, social security basically remains a national field of competence. The lack of common norms has paved the way for a large disparity in social protection between EU Member States, which is not conducive to the European single market. Moreover, it may lead to an increase in poverty and social exclusion in some regions and intensify economic competition between Member States on the basis of labor costs. At the same time, almost all EU Member States are bound by one or more international social security instruments developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and by the Council of Europe. The most important instrument, ILO Convention No. 102 on Minimum Standards of Social Security, was adopted in 1952 with a view to promoting the right to social security for everyone, to guide nations in the development of their social security systems, to create higher standards, and to prevent an imbalance in markets caused by unequal social costs. From the perspective of two case studies, this book addresses the question whether the standards are still suitable to meet their objectives 60 years after their creation. For example, can they still be used as a benchmark for the development of social security systems? Do they contribute to better social protection? And do they provide a common basis for social security within the EU context? The study starts with an in-depth analysis of the international standards, followed by the case studies of the Czech Republic and Estonia. The country studies provide a description of the national social security systems and a comparison of these systems with international standards. The last part of the book comprises conclusions and discussions regarding the applicability and adequacy of the international standards in the two countries, which are, however, also relevant to other EU Member States. (Series: Social Europe - Vol. 28)

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

In the 1990s, the Maastricht Treaty introduced the right to free movement for EU citizens. In practice, however, there are substantial barriers to making use of this right, particularly to integration and to accessing the social and welfare rights available. This is particularly true when it comes to accessing social rights, such as social assistance, housing benefit, study grants and health care. This book provides a detailed description and thorough analysis of these barriers, in both law and practice.

Digitalisation and the changing world of work are calling into question the standard employment model as a basis for social security systems. Whilst a growing number of publications deal with the consequences for industrial relations and labour law, social law is still being left out of most research projects on digital work. This book aims at widening the perspective. It concentrates on the two most important questions in the context of social protection in a digitalised world, namely access to social protection systems and their future financing, putting emphasis on platform work. It gives an overview of different national approaches to these questions, it analyses the respective solutions in a comparative manner, and it puts them into a transnational context. By bringing together case studies from Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, France and Estonia and addressing the specific reform challenges for EU standard setting, EU coordination and the relation to tax law, the book provides new insights on what a "Social Law 4.0" should look like.

This edited volume takes a closer look at various European pension-plan models and the recent challenges, trends and predictions related to the design of such schemes. The contributors analyse new ideas, both from national governments and European institutions, and consider current debates on topics such as the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and the so-called ‘European Pillar of Social Rights’ – calling for a new approach to social policy at the European level in response to common challenges, such as ageing and the digital revolution.This interdisciplinary work embraces economic, financial and legal perspectives, while focusing on previously selected coherence aspects in order to ensure that the analyses are comprehensive and globally consistent.