About: welfare state

What to do with rejected asylum seekers?

As the EU considers tougher rules for returning asylum seekers who had their application rejected, more people might be placed in detention and the possibility of voluntary return could be limited, writes Anna Lundberg.

Longevity and the limits of the welfare state in Europe

In November 2017, the EU proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights. However, there are still many shortcomings within the current welfare state and unless policies reflect values then plummeting fertility rates or fading solidarity between young and old will persist, writes Anna Záborská.

What kind of budget do Europeans need?

The EU's new multiannual budget must reflect its new ambitions. Europe must assert itself as a geopolitical entity, as a democratic power with not only an economic dimension but social and cultural as well, writes MEP Maria João Rodrigues.  

New Slovenian president faces growing social unrest

The austerity measures introduced by the current government have brought many people to the streets to defend their social rights, and the belief that Slovenia should remain firmly grounded on the premises of a modern welfare state, writes Marko Bucik.

Redistributing wealth across Brussels

"There [has been] a growing disparity between the highest and lowest incomes [in Brussels] since the end of the 1980s," argue Christian Kesteloot, a professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Maarten Loopmans, a lecturer at the Erasmus University College Brussels, in a Brussels Studies e-journal.

A chance for a new foundation of the EU

In this ZEI discussion paper, Professor Ludger Kühnhardt puts forward the idea that the current crisis of the EU could be a real chance for a new foundation of the EU to make it more appealing to its citizens.

EU enlargement: external economic implications

This policy briefing discusses the main economic aspects of the external dimension, in particular whether there is a threat of trade diversion.

Mutual recognition, unemployment and the welfare state

This paper aims to explain the advantages of using the principle of mutual recognition, instead of equal treatement, in the Union's labour markets.