Call for Papers: "New Challenges to European Solidarity" at Cambridge (March 9-10, 2017)

Network member Alicia Hinarejos (Cambridge) has written to pass along a call for papers for a terrific-looking workshop at Cambridge in March 2017.  Entitled "New Challenges to European Solidarity," the event aims to bring younger scholars to Cambridge for two days to share their ideas and receive feedback from one another as well as participating senior academics.  It is funded by a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award.

The call for papers follows below: further information is available from Alicia.

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New Challenges to European Solidarity: Call for Papers

The European Union finds itself at a historical crossroads. It currently faces a number of existential threats that need a common and unified response; yet such a common response is likely to require unprecedented pooling of sovereignty and sharing of financial burdens among the individual Member States. In other words, these challenges require a new understanding of solidarity among the States and peoples of Europe. The responses that the Union gives to these challenges will shape European integration for the foreseeable future. This workshop will bring together young scholars who are conducting research on challenges to European solidarity, including e.g. in the context of Economic and Monetary Union, social policy, or migration. The event will provide a forum for researchers working in these areas to meet each other, present their work, and discuss their ideas with policymakers and other scholars, including senior academics who will provide feedback.

The event will take place over two days (afternoon of the 9th of March and morning of the 10th of March 2017) in Cambridge. The project is funded by a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award and organised by Dr Alicia Hinarejos, University Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge.

Advanced PhD students, postdoctoral scholars and early career academics are invited to apply by Friday, 13 January 2017, with an abstract (500 words maximum) and a recent CV to solidarity.cambridge@gmail.com. Submission of draft papers with the application is encouraged, but not required. Selected applicants will be informed of the outcome before the end of January 2017, and invited to submit draft papers by the end of February 2017. The project will cover participants’ cost of accommodation in a Cambridge college and travel within the UK (standard class rail or airfare in accordance with University of Cambridge guidelines). For further information on the workshop, please email Alicia Hinarejos at ah428{at}cam{dot}ac{dot}uk.

Dominik Steiger on Access to Social Benefits in the European Union

In this post, network member Dominik Steiger (Berlin) explores one of the most complex and controversial areas of EU law: access to social benefits.  Focusing on the apparent retreat from the aggressive position staked out by the Court in the Grzelczyk case, Steiger identifies and explores an apparent conflict between national solidarity and European identity.

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Cutting Back on Equal Access to Social Benefits for EU Foreigners: National Solidarity vs. European Identity

European solidarity and national identity alike have been put to the test during recent years, especially during the banking and state debt crisis. In these days, Europe was on the verge of breaking apart. Angela Merkel appeared to complain about “lazy Greeks” and Greeks marched in the streets showing pictures of her as a Nazi. It took many legal documents and even more late-night sessions in Brussels, but Europe managed to handle the crisis. It rescued the banking system and the states alike – and, at least for the time being, European solidarity prevailed, even if states had to give up on some of the principles that they like to think to form part of their national identity.