Impact of Global Economic Crisis on the European Welfare States

The global economic crisis and the subsequent weaker growth are putting under pressure welfare states in the EU. This paper aims at discussing the effects of the crisis at the social level and at identifying whether the classic European welfare state models (Nordic, Continental, Anglo-Saxon and Mediterranean) are still valid in today’s economy. An answer will be tried using the mathematical tool of principal components analysis. The results will be observed in graphs where the states taken into consideration respect the classical welfare models or they regroup themselves into new circumstances’ adapted models. Even though the classical welfare models are generally still checked up with the analyzed indicators, our analysis reveals the need to theoretically redefining the European welfare state in the aftermath of the crisis and to have a unifying social policy concept. Besides calling into question the financial viability of the current social programmes, the crisis could be also a new opportunity to reconfigure and re-legitimize social policy.