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For a few years the possibility of developing an EU level automatic stabiliser and in particular a common Unemployment Benefit Scheme (UBS), has caught the attention of both academics and policy makers. The general idea of such a scheme would be that if the unemployment rate in a member state rises and reaches a certain level, the member state would receive European financial support for the payment of unemployment benefits.

The Italian EU presidency has put the topic of an EMU-wide automatic stabiliser and a common UBS in particular, on the agenda of the next informal meeting of the European ministers for employment and social affairs, taking place in Milan on July 17-18. Social Platform will actively participate in the debates and is currently preparing a written position.

In 2013 the European Commission stated in its Communication on Strengthening the Social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) that in the future it should become possible to establish a common European level macroeconomic stabiliser as an “insurance system to pool the risks of economic shocks across member states,…”. It was suggested that such a scheme could provide a system of earmarked payments to counter certain cyclical effects, such as a sudden increase in unemployment rates, as happened during the crisis.

The proposals for a common UBS as currently discussed, consider this system primarily as an economic tool. However at the informal EPSCO, we will argue that if such a system would be created at least some key social issues have to be taken into account for it to work.

Read Social Platform's contribution to the informal EPSCO on a European unemployment benefit scheme (available after July 10)