South European Actors: Changing Roles and Strategies in Times of Crisis

The presentations in this roundtable aim to throw light on the social and political dynamics of welfare reform in South Europe in the time of protracted austerity and significant structural changes. The interest focuses on how the crisis impacts upon the role of major actors in social reform, what strategies, social alliances and mobilisations emerge, and how these influence the reform agenda and the policy change process.

Major questions raised:  What is the response of the trade unions to the crisis? How has the crisis affected the ‘family’ as a major welfare provider? Can emerging ‘enterprise welfare’ respond to ‘needs’? How has the crisis impacted upon the regions as welfare providers? How is the crucial issue of the role of immigrants as workers and welfare beneficiaries tackled by the austerity-driven reform? Of central importance is also the role of supranational actors in the crisis-ridden countries (EU, ECB, IMF): Is the EU periphery a ‘test case’ of how far drastic changes can be pushed in Europe? Is there room for optimism for a ‘politics of solidarity’ in Europe?