The EU and Minimum Income Protection: Clarifying the Policy Conundrum

Abstract

Should the EU be involved in the governance of minimum income protection, and if it should, in which role precisely? This is the dual question that lies at the heart of this chapter. Saying that the question is difficult would be an understatement. We are staunch defenders of the notion that any decent society should have in place an efficient minimum income guarantee. We also believe that the EU needs to incorporate a credible social dimension into its actions. However, designing a specific role for the EU in minimum income protection entails a range of complicated problems that cannot be ignored. Sometimes one has to be brave enough to put the ideas one cherishes to the test of argument and counterargument, and hope that they will emerge all the stronger. That is what we have set out to do in this chapter.