A comparative framing of fundamental rights challenges to social crisis measures in the Eurozone

Abstract

The Eurozone crisis and its management prompted dramatic changes to social rights and entitlements, specifically in the Member States which were most severely affected by the economic downturn. Fundamental rights, including fundamental social rights, from different sources can be a means to contest those crisis-imposed changes. In this European Policy Analysis, Claire Kilpatrick and Bruno De Witte provide a comparative framing of fundamental rights challenges to social crisis measures in the Eurozone. The analysis provokes difficult yet central questions of the role of the EU as a human rights actor, the attitude of the courts in fundamental rights cases, as well as the significance of the Charter as a guarantor of fundamental social rights in the EU.