‘When Poverty Comes in at the Door, Love Flies Out the Window’: The Influence of Eurozone Reforms upon the Social Dimension of the EU – And Vice Versa?

The economic crisis has brought the intriguing question of its effects on Social Europe sharply into focus. This contribution therefore goes to the heart of the puzzles and explores the mutual influence of Eurozone reforms and broader Union social policies with an additional focus on pointing out the most pertinent challenges in that regard. Thus, the analysis anchors around the following issues: the social dimension of the EU and the Eurozone respectively; comparison; mutual influence; and challenges. A recurring theme is thus the tension between the overall construction of the EU and the internal construction of the Eurozone, which is growing, but not really focused on. It is, inter alia, concluded that the Eurozone reforms bring Social Europe in a new – also viewed by many as a dangerous, illegitimate and undemocratic – direction detached from the prevailing intentions in the EU as such.