The EUBS and the Protection from Involuntary Unemployment: Towards a New Model of Solidarity in Europe?

This paper analyzes the feasibility of introducing a European Unemployment Benefits Scheme (EUBS), which would work as an insurance mechanism against the risks of asymmetrical shocks among countries. The implementation of a EUBS presents a number of difficulties. It is necessary, first of all, to analyze the legal compatibility between the EU treaties and a form of EUBS. Moreover, it is useful to explore the possible coexistence of EUBS with the benefits of the national (in this case Italian) social security system, which provides for the involuntarily unemployed. After analyzing these problems, it is crucial to analyze the administrative management of the system as part of a European multi-level governance, in a context in which the Open Method of Coordination is to this day problematic, and in which there is no harmonization among social protection systems. It is also interesting to analyze the possible link between a EUBS and a European Minimum Income. The question that inspired this paper is as follows: is the EUBS only a good economic stabiliser or could it be inspired by the principle of solidarity between Member States, in a context in which solidarity is overshadowed by the need for economic and financial stability in the Union?