Three concurrent crises in welfare states in an increasingly asymmetrical European Union

There is more than one crisis going on in European welfare states,although the front place taken by the financial one in public discourse and in nationaland EU policies risks overshadowing the other ones, thus also reducing thespace for a constructive, not only destructive change. It also reduces the space fordemocratic decision making. These risks a not incurred to the same degree in allcountries, however, given differences in their welfare state development, political andcultural history and position in the international market. These cross country differences,furthermore, which in part overlap with the de facto power relations withinthe EU as they developed through the financial crisis, are increasingly becomingthemselves one of the reasons of the EU crisis. With austerity being the main approachsupported by the BCE and by the EU intergovernmental bodies, «debtor»countries are loosing a sovereignty already undermined by footloose capitalism, infavour of supra-national bodies increasingly marked by inter-country asymmetry indecision making power.After a synthetic overview of the different crises affecting the national welfarestates and the European social model and of the risks of an exclusive financial approach,the paper discusses whether they also present opportunities for change inthe direction of greater efficacy and equity, at what conditions.