ON SOCIAL EUROPE AFTER COVID-19.

AuthorAidnik, Martin

Yes, we are all interconnected and it is time for Europe to acknowledge this (Roberta Raffaeta, 2020) 1. Introduction

Covid-19, described by the United Nations Secretary-General as the biggest upheaval since the Second World War, has wreaked havoc across borders and continents (UN 2020). The mobile, deadly virus initially travelled along the cultural and economic networks of globalization: manufacturing supply chains, tourism, religious gatherings and overseas students were the carriers and multiplying sites of the infection (NLR Editors 2020). Europe, the old world, was the epicentre of the pandemic after its emergence and incubation in China. The virus, which has claimed thousands of lives, brought much of the ordinary social life to a standstill, thus forcing the people of Europe to find refuge in the quarantine of home confinement. The psychological toll of spending weeks and months in isolation, working hazardously on the front line or being deprived of livelihood were the most common causes of the deterioration of human well-being amid and in the aftermath of the pandemic. Having resulted in vast human misery, Covid-19 raises necessary questions about the future direction of Europe--what kind of Europe will emerge from the devastation --and, moreover, will the eruption of the European societies be used as an opportunity for changing, i.e. recalibrating a post-Corona Europe?

Europe, and its joint governmental body--the European Union--were in a weak and stagnant state before the advent of the crisis management state. The liberal consensus of the European Union, previously successful in presenting itself as essentially the only viable way forward for Europe, suffered serious setbacks in the last decade, including the exit of one of the member states, Great Britain. The EU has so far absorbed the calamitous developments but, at the same time, carefully avoided any major reconstruction. Thus proponents of a progressive Europe claimed that the European Union has reached an impasse as a democratic project which benefits populations and stands for a better, more liveable world (see e.g. Balibar 2016, Offe 2015). Secular stagnation was the order of the day on the continent (and the United Kingdom) throughout much of the 2010s (see Chandrasekhar and Ghosh 2018). The growing standing of the populist right-wing political forces reversed the movement towards 'ever closer Union', bringing to the fore significant fault lines and undermining Europe's commitment to hospitality and shared responsibility. European societies had become increasingly atomized. Competitive restructuring (structural reforms) dominated the political agenda both at the EU and the nation-state level (see e.g. Stiglitz 2017). Progress made in addressing inequality and achieving convergence between Western Europe and Scandinavia and Eastern and Southern peripheries has been undone; policies governing the eurozone (especially austerity) have advanced the interests of creditors and capital owners at the expense of wage earners, social welfare claimants and gender equality. (1) Critical commentators have thus spoken of a 'lost decade' and 'a continent adrift' when assessing Europe in the 2010s (Matthijs 2016, Hermann 2017).

Such were the contours of Europe before the advent of Covid-19. Unlike Douglas Murray (2017), even after the pandemic, I do not proclaim the 'strange death of Europe'. But I do agree with Yanis Varoufakis that "a titanic battle is being waged for Europe's integrity and soul, with the forces of reason and humanism losing out so far to growing irrationality, authoritarianism and malice" (Varoufakis 2016: 245). This proposition is increasingly pertinent. The overarching concern of this article is social Europe, i.e. Europe with a commitment to 'good society', conducive to human well-being. This is necessary in order to--at least in theory--avoid the 'recovery' strategy of the crisis of 2008, which, by cutting the public sector (including healthcare) expenditure, left Europe vulnerable to a large-scale humanitarian disaster. Pandemics, offering the chance to rethink the status quo, have historically resulted in changes in social life. They have been catalysts for imagining the world anew (Roy 2020). This is how I approach Covid-19 in this article. I want to reflect on a progressive change in Europe amid the dystopia of the virus. If not now, when will Europe be bold in its decision-making? When will a new page in European history be turned? (2) Indeed, "Europe has reached its constituent moment--it badly needs a reset" (Adelman and Delatte 2019: 89). This article will expand knowledge by providing an interpretation of what this 'reset' could mean for Europe, as well as offering an assessment of the EU's actual measures to respond the to challenge that the pandemic poses for the union. To do so, I will assess the 750 billion stimulus package agreed by the EU member states in July. The package marks a pivotal moment in the bloc's attempt to respond to the damage done by the virus to European economies and societies. It includes collective debt sharing for the first time in the Union's history but, as we shall see, does not go far enough in tackling eurozone's structural imbalances.

First, before taking up the main task of the article, I introduce the notion of a 'social Europe'. Thereafter, I write about the two key developments that have led to the decline of social Europe. I thus take a long perspective on the current predicament that Europe faces. Coronavirus is an extraordinary occurrence, but the playing field in which European states find themselves has a history. I trace this history back to the Maastricht Treaty which had a profound impact on the rules of economic governance in Europe. Starting with this Treaty in 1992, the Union officially itself adopted a market-liberal stance both in terms of policy-making and discourse, which effectively marginalized earlier concerns with welfare and cohesion (see e.g. Streeck 2019). Thereafter, I probe into the divisive consequences that the eurozone governance has had in Europe. As we shall see, the 'straight-jacket' character of the euro area has enfeebled Southern member states, including Spain and Italy, where the infection has done the most damage. I then turn to Covid-19 in order to inquire into the challenge it poses to the future of Europe, including in terms of the fault lines that have re-emerged in Europe in terms of the recovery strategy and political alliances. Lastly, I focus on a path forward and inquire into social thought that aims at a reconstruction of European politics and the economy in order to arrive at a social Europe. I shall do this by engaging with the recent 'Manifesto for the democratization of Europe' (Boujou et al., 2019), an initiative led by prominent French intellectuals, that can play a significant role in re-launching Europe after the ravaging virus. Secondly, I argue for the change in the European Central Bank's role: instead of continuing with the unsuccessful Quantitative Easing (QE) strategy, the ECB should use its capacity to pay people of Europe a temporal universal basic income.

I follow the tradition of the Frankfurt school critical theory both methodologically and in spirit. Critical theory is a form of inquiry oriented towards achieving a better social organization via a critical understanding of the forces which constitute the status quo. It is a philosophical endeavour aimed at illuminating the whole of human social life in its historical specificity. Critique of the economy is a vital part of critical theory, as it is the economy which is a cause of much of social misery. Economy, as a structuring principle of society and its contradictions, is too important to be left to professional economists (Horkheimer 1972: 244-252). I therefore contend that (political) economy is indispensable for the study of Europe, and that critique of the free-market capitalism instituted under the auspices of the EU is a necessity for envisioning social Europe. I proceed interpretatively. Interpretation in the tradition of the Frankfurt school critical theory is oriented towards understanding a phenomena in its historicity and elucidating its historical dynamic. Such a critical understanding enables a discussion of reconstruction by de-naturalizing what appears as natural, i.e. without history (Adorno 2000: 145-154).

  1. Social Europe as a paradigm

    In what follows, I will sketch the meaning of the notion 'social Europe' in terms of fundamental values and key practices.

    The values which underlie social Europe (or the European Social Model, ESM) are sharing risk widely across society, containing inequality with the aim of preserving solidarity, protecting the most vulnerable, cultivating consultation in industry and providing a framework of economic and social citizenship rights for the entire population. These values anchored by the social model form a fundamental part of what Europe stands for (Giddens 2006: 14-15). Social Europe, quite clearly, presupposes that economic prosperity and social justice go hand in hand--something which was widely agreed upon in post-war Europe (Giddens, Diamond and Liddle 2006: 2). In addition, the European social model has six pillars. These are i) increased rights at work and improved working conditions ii) universal and sustainable social protection systems iii) inclusive labour markets iv) strong and well-functioning social dialogue v) public services and services of general interest vi) social inclusion and social cohesion (Vaughan Whitehead 2015: 3-10). Aiginger and Guger (2006: 126) argue that the European social model shapes production, employment and productivity and, thus, economic performance together with other economic policy objectives. Yet the model also has important implications for realms other than the economy: it influences social relationships, cultural institutions, behaviour, and the production of...

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