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Costamagna, Francesco --- "The Internal Market and the Welfare State: Anything New after Lisbon?" [2012] ELECD 530; in Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca (eds), "The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Treaty of Lisbon and the Future of European Law and Policy

Editor(s): Trybus, Martin; Rubini, Luca

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857932556

Section: Chapter 20

Section Title: The Internal Market and the Welfare State: Anything New after Lisbon?

Author(s): Costamagna, Francesco

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

20. The internal market and the welfare
state: anything new after Lisbon?
Francesco Costamagna

1. THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESS AND
THE WELFARE STATE: SOME INTRODUCTORY
REMARKS
Europe has traditionally been seen as the cradle of the welfare state, as well
as the place where the model found its apex.
The establishment of schemes for the provision of social protection
services to the population started at the end of the nineteenth century with
the introduction of compulsory social insurance,1 first in Germany and
then in other European States.2 However, it was after World War II that the
welfare state enjoyed its `golden age',3 finding express recognition in the
constitutions of some European States.4 At that moment, the provision of
welfare services was not simply meant to address the considerable material
needs of peoples that had been badly affected by the war, but it represented
a powerful tool to create stronger bonds between citizens and national
institutions, and, consequently, to uphold States' democratic credentials.
Therefore, it is far from surprising that European States were extremely
anxious to guard their `social sovereignty' against any external intrusion.
These concerns were also very much present during the negotiations
leading to the adoption of the Treaty of Rome of 1957 that established the
European Economic Community (EEC). After an intense debate, the final


1
Ferrera, Maurizio (2005), The Boundaries of Welfare: European Integration
and the New Spatial Politics of Social Protection, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
p. 54, points out that `[s]ocial ...