Social and employment policies for a fair and competitive Europe - Background paper

This background paper will first briefly outline the current social and economic situation in Europe. It will then provide the essential case for Economic and Monetary Union and the dilemma it poses for the wider economic governance of relevance for what we know as Social Europe. This dilemma is essentially about the concept of political sovereignty in the context of the international economy – in terms of the European Union, but more fundamentally in the age of globalisation. It goes on to indicate what further economic and political integration may be required to maintain the euro. It then briefly suggests the implications of the global competitive challenges and the requirements of economic governance in Europe for the ‘European Social Model’ as an introduction to the subject matter of the Foundation Forum 2013, namely social and employment policies for a fair and competitive Europe.