Brussels, 08/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - At a time when people are asking for more protection from social Europe against the effects of globalisation, the question of whether we have one or several European social models has to be asked, and what has to be done to ensure the continuity of the European social model. To try to answer these questions, the ALDE group from the European Parliament, on the initiative of Belgian Liberal Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, organised a public hearing on the theme of “Globalisation and the reform of European social models”, with André Sapir, Professor of Economy at the Université libre de Bruxelles.
To adapt our social systems to the extremely rapid changes that society is now going through, priority has to be given to labour market policies, which have to be more flexible, and to the reform of social policy, said Prof. Sapir. In his view, in the EU-15, there are four European social models (see also EUROPE 9048): 1) Mediterranean, which is “neither effective nor fair”, 2) Nordic which is “effective and fair”, 3) Anglo-saxon which is “effective but not fair” and 4) Continental (France, Germany, Belgium for example) which is “not effective but fair”. In terms of public finance, the nordic and anglo-saxon models are better placed than the continental and Mediterranean, which must be reformed, believes Prof. Sapir, who nonetheless notes that it must not be forgotten that the latter two models represent ? of the EU-25's GDP and 90% of that of the eurozone. Taking the EU-25, great differences can be seen between the new Member States: according to Prof. Sapir, the Baltic states are closer to the anglo-saxon model, Poland is strongly Mediterranean, Hungary more continental and the Czech Republic and Slovenia more or less Nordic.
“We have to forge ahead, while always bearing in mind what the different countries want to do. What Greece wants is not necessarily what Sweden wants!” said British Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, insisting on the principle of subsidiarity. “We cannot speak of European social policy if we do not have a European tax policy,” said Catalonian Senator and former MEP Carles Gasoliba I Böhm. For FDP MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis “the Lisbon Strategy is dead” and “we have to move towards the Nordic model which is the best”. Polish MEP Jan Kulakowski pointed out that “in Prof. Sapir's four models, we don't see any from the new Member States, because there aren't any”. According to him, one can see “an ultra-liberal model pursued with an ultra-socialist attitude, which is catastrophic”. “The strength of the Danish social model is flexicurity, very high allowances and social rights, good social protection for those who lose their jobs and good involvement of social partners”, explained Danish MEP Anne Jensen, who added “Our model will remain viable in the new developing labour market (…) The Danish consumer is happy to welcome Polish plumbers. On the employment market, competition is necessary. Why not welcome the Polish plumber and give him good social protection?”