This book offers a much-needed analysis of how the European Union (EU) has affected welfare state reforms in the Member States most severely hit by the 2008 economic crisis. Bringing together leading European social policy researchers, it shows that the EU's responses to the sovereign debt crisis have changed the nature of EU intervention into domestic welfare states, with an enhanced focus on fiscal consolidation, increased surveillance and enforcement of EU measures. The authors demonstrate how this represents an unprecedented degree of EU involvement in domestic social and labour market policies. Readers will also discover how greater demands to attain balanced budgets have been institutionalized, leading to tensions with the EU's social investment strategy. This highly informative edited collection will engage students, social policy practitioners and researchers, scholars of the welfare state and political scientists.
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"This well-edited book provides a useful and thorough analysis as well as a base for further investigation of the EU policies on member countries' welfare state reforms in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis. ... This book provides a timely and valuable contributions on the impact of EU policies and measures on the welfare states of the crisis-ridden member countries." (Nazimudeen Saleem, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 47 (4), October, 2018)