When Paul McCartney wrote his hit ‘The long and winding road’ in 1969, he obviously had other thoughts than European social policy in mind. But the metaphor is an appropriate description of the development of European social policy over the last twenty years, the subject of this 20th-anniversary edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play. It accurately reflects the twists and turns of a social policy paradigm permanently overshadowed by market and financial considerations. Despite many optimistic statements by the EU leaders, social policy remains a ‘nice to have’ (if and when the economic and political context allows for it), not a ‘must have’. At the mercy of changing player coalitions, the development of social policy happens through a variety of policy instruments discussed in this book. It is also shaped by ever-changing challenges: digitalisation, demographic change and, increasingly, climate change. Nevertheless, as charted by this book, progress and political struggles towards a genuine ‘Social Europe’ have been and continue to be on the agenda of various players. But as a lesson of the past, we should not expect progress to be quick or linear: the road is going to be long and winding! This book takes you on that exciting journey
Social policy in the European Union 1999-2019
: the long and winding road / Bart Vanhercke, Dalila Ghailani, Slavina Spasova. [et al.]. - Bruxelles : ETUI, 2020. - 233 pages. - ISBN 9782874525506.
