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EU facing the crisis: social and employment policies in times of tight budgets

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  • Hans-Jürgen Bieling

    (Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany)

Abstract

Over the past years the centre of the economic crisis has repeatedly shifted. Starting as a subprime crisis in the US, it soon unfolded as a global economic and financial crisis in order then to become a sovereign debt crisis, euro crisis and, eventually, also a social and democratic crisis. Against the background of the general political and economic conditions within the EU, this article traces the shifts of the political terrain. It focuses above all on the transition from a rather costly crisis management (bank rescues, economic stimulus programmes and automatic stabilizers) towards a new agenda of austerity policies. Structurally, this agenda can be seen as the reaction to significant increases in public debt. In addition, it has been promoted politically and institutionalized through successive European economic governance reforms. These reforms have also had a serious impact on domestic social and employment policies. In some countries dependent on external credits this is already evident, while in other countries the deregulatory aspects of the radicalized reform agenda have only just started to unfold.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans-Jürgen Bieling, 2012. "EU facing the crisis: social and employment policies in times of tight budgets," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(3), pages 255-271, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:255-271
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258912448591
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bruno Amable & Lilas Demmou & Ivan Ledezma, 2009. "The Lisbon strategy and structural reforms in Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 15(1), pages 33-52, February.
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    4. repec:dau:papers:123456789/6926 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. van Riet, Ad, 2010. "Euro area fiscal policies and the crisis," Occasional Paper Series 109, European Central Bank.
    6. Stockhammer, Engelbert, 2007. "Charakteristika eines finanz-dominierten Akkumulationsregimes in Europa," WSI-Mitteilungen, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 60(12), pages 643-649.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernhard Ebbinghaus & Lukas Lehner, 2022. "Cui bono – business or labour? Job retention policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(1), pages 47-64, February.

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