Research Papers

Despite the ratification of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty containing the fundamental rights charter and the creation of the Fundamental Rights Agency, social movements as well as civil society groups have articulated a concern with the loss of rights associated with the decline of the European social model in recent years, based on the repercussions of the Eurocrisis and EU market liberalization. This paper asks to what extent the provision of social, civil and fundamental rights in the EU has been affected by the economic crises affecting large parts of the Union and to what degree the buildup of rights-promoting policies and institutions is able to counter such challenges. Using comparative, longitudinal Eurobarometer data and selected case studies from the countries affected by recession & Eurocrisis, it compares how the European Commission, the Parliament and the Fundamental Rights Agency mediate(d) the threats to social and civil rights previously associated with the European social model, and draws conclusion for the legitimacy of rights claims by civil society and national governments vis-à-vis the EU, who finds itself in the position of being part creator and part solution to those problems.