The European Pillar of Social Rights and the Quest for EU Social Sustainability

Abstract

This article sets out to review the policies introduced by the European Pillar of Social Rights and its accompanying initiatives in light of their contribution to European Union (EU) social sustainability, particularly in comparison with their predecessors. The balance between economic and social policies at EU level has long been tipped in favour of the economic, leaving an atrophic social side a servant of market-based objectives. Social sustainability appeared absent from the European vocabulary, at least in substantive terms, something exacerbated by the effects of the 2008 crisis. The criticisms that ensued led to a resurgence of interest in establishing a socially sustainable Union, crystallized in the Pillar and its accompanying initiatives. Despite their potential, further commitment by the Member States as well as more concrete and legally binding proposals are necessary, for without them this social resurgence might once again surrender to economic hegemony.