Introduction #

Matthew Donoghue and Mikko Kuisma

To say that 2020 has been a turbulent year would be an understatement. Our societies and economies worldwide have been dominated by the Covid-19 crisis. All of us—not least policy-makers and politicians—have a lot to learn from the successes and failures of the management of the pandemic. Yet even a crisis of this magnitude has not stopped other crucially important political processes and events from happening. Implementation of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has loomed large and, although the lead-up to December 31st has been overshadowed by the coronavirus, the European continent and the EU were, at time of writing, about to feel the consequences of ‘Brexit’—deal or no deal.

There has been no shortage of coverage, journalistic and academic, of the causes and effects of Brexit. The overwhelming focus has been on international trade, international relations and debates—arguments even—around ‘national sovereignty’. The major sticking-point in EU-UK negotiations has been customs arrangements and access to markets. The UK has attempted to play a mercantilist game, for which it is underpowered and underequipped—although the position of London as a global financial centre does pose problems for the EU, more so than the loss of markets for goods.

Impact on citizens #

What has largely been missing from these very public narratives and debates is the lasting impact on individual citizens and their families across Europe. The most visibly discussed impact of Brexit at this level has been the limbo in which European citizens in the UK, and vice versa, have found themselves. This has been compounded in Northern Ireland due to uncertainty over the border, the de facto redrawing of European jurisdictions necessitated to sustain the north-south arrangements introduced by the 1998 Belfast agreement and the longstanding ability of residents of the region to claim UK or Irish citizenship. Yet at issue are not only formal membership of a polity and the benefits this brings but also how the rights and, crucially, the ability to act upon and claim these rights of citizens in both the UK and across Europe will be redrawn within borders, not just for those who migrate.

The ‘golden age’ of the welfare state was defined in the public consciousness by comparatively high levels of ‘decommodification’ of labour, of generosity and coverage: support was to be from the cradle to the grave, and one was not to be left entirely dependent on one’s labour to survive. The long period of retrenchment set in motion in the late 1970s—complemented by parallel discourses of ‘deservingness’ and conditionality—has eroded these securities, leading to a recommodification of citizens who must now, in an age of crises, find ever more innovative ways to make ends meet while states extol the virtues of prudence and restraint.

The UK is only one important part of the story of Brexit. Even where the UK’s withdrawal from the EU does not have obvious direct consequences for other states, Brexit instigates a change in the social, political and economic context of European politics. With a change of context comes a potential change in the rules of the game. Some of these rules—notably those related to the process of withdrawal and the ‘future relationship’—are already written. But many others are more informal, tied up with the soft power wielded in intra-EU negotiations and political manoeuvring.

Social Europe #

With the removal of a big veto player, could the reins be loosened on ‘social Europe’? Might we begin to see an EU in which considerations of social citizenship and rights climb up the agenda? Could the European Pillar of Social Rights be more than just a (weak) counterbalance to closer economic union and international ‘competitiveness’? It is too early to tell but, as the chapters in this volume demonstrate, the need for a more explicitly _social _ Europe is acute.

The book, product of a workshop in 2019 at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, funded by the OUP John Fell Fund, contributes to the case for a renewed and reinvigorated social Europe, adding a forum for debate and a call for greater public engagement on social rights. This is crucial when governments claim they must focus so carefully on balancing public health with economic performance. History shows that when public funding and investment are cut social programmes typically suffer first. Crises tend to necessitate short-term thinking—or at least help legitimise short-term approaches to long-term problems.

Countries across Europe have spent unprecedented resources to keep economies afloat in the context of the pandemic. But Keynesian-style measures, such as the ‘furlough’ scheme in the UK and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Ireland—while saving millions from destitution—are short-term fixes. They do not address the significant inequalities deeply embedded in neoliberal economies, brutally exposed by the pandemic. Recovery from the Great Recession has been slow and (in some cases unnecessarily) painful. Choices were made which benefited certain groups and classes above others.

Brexit is perhaps unprecedented as a ‘crisis’: it can be traced to a very specific set of conditions in a way that exogenous crises such as the Global Financial Crisis and the pandemic cannot. Although all political decisions are by definition ideological, the ideological basis of decisions around Brexit has been laid bare. This means there is a much clearer opportunity for states—or the EU—to use this crisis as a path-breaking moment. With enough political will, states and the EU can begin to address the deep-seated inequalities and power imbalances which have led to events such as Brexit. Crucial to this is increasing the power and security of citizens across the continent, regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, social position and so on.

This book, product of a workshop in 2019 at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, funded by the OUP John Fell Fund, emphasises the need to place the future of social rights in Europe front and centre in the (post-)Brexit debate. Social policy across Europe and within the EU has become increasingly subordinated to economic policy over the decades, with a detrimental effect on citizens across the continent. This has indirect impacts on the European project more broadly, especially if bringing the EU closer to its citizens is still considered a central long-term aim. The UK’s withdrawal will place pressure on many governments and it is likely that many of us will begin to hear again the language of ‘hard choices’, especially in the post-pandemic world we hope to enter at some point during 2021.

Bigger picture #

The book brings together world-renowned experts in European politics, and social and public policy, who bring their expertise to bear on the role and nature of social rights in a (post-)Brexit Europe. The book is split into two sections, engaging first with social rights, social citizenship, Brexit and European futures from a conceptual standpoint. Contributors discuss the prospects for social citizenship and social solidarity across Europe, and how the UK’s withdrawal from the EU may affect this. The contested history of welfare-state development and its role in shaping nations is drawn upon to consider how this historical moment will shape citizens’ rights within and across borders. This involves thinking about the faultlines of European citizenship and who will emerge as winners and losers if, or when, these faultlines fracture. This requires a critical engagement with debates around states’ commitment to, and delivery of, social rights, and the vehicles via which these will be delivered.

The second section introduces case studies, focusing on specific policies and countries’ experiences, to situate the conceptual debates within real-world examples, including the future of European pension systems, the various fates of Irish-British relations, implications for households and families, the complexities of migration within and beyond the EU (such as post-Brexit UK), the role of big business and the rise of corporate welfare as a potential barrier to a more social Europe. The book presents the bigger picture on the complex relationships among different political, social and economic actors and how these relationships are likely to shape future debates and the development and implementation of social rights across Europe.

We are ultimately yet to see the full impact of the parallel crises of Covid-19 and Brexit on the public, social and economic health of Europe. But one thing is certain: without a robust network of social support, within and across countries, the recovery will be slower and more painful than need be.