European Solidarity and Its Limits: Insights from Current Political Challenges

Abstract

Michele Knodt and Anne Tews address the significance, reality and limitations of solidarity in the European multi-level system. They present an effort to conceptualise solidarity in the European multi-level system and develop a typology of four different forms of solidarity: transnational solidarity, supranational solidarity, intergovernmental solidarity and international solidarity. This contribution focuses on the type of intergovernmental solidarity between member states and explores the possible limits of solidary acts. Knodt and Tews illustrate their theoretical and conceptual considerations with insights from two different EU policy fields: energy and migration policy. In both fields, solidarity plays an important role according to the Treaty. However, both policy fields are characterised by a lack of solidary actions and thus provide some indications of the limits of European solidarity. Debates on energy policy, they show, feature selective claims of solidarity with regard to energy security and a lack of solidarity with regard to sharing the burden of greenhouse gas emissions reduction, whereas migration policy is characterised by a fundamental lack of solidary claims and actions. The analysis indicates that member states calculate the benefits and costs of solidary acts from a short-term perspective, focus on domestic concerns and fail to link solidarity claims across policy fields.