European financial solidarity : a concept in search of definition

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to understand the conceptual and legal scope of financial solidarity in the European Union (EU). To this end, the paper offers a theoretical account of EU solidarity that highlights its two inherent dimensions, interstate and interpersonal, and argues that given the complex constitutional nature of the EU and following its most recent crises EU solidarity should be normatively understood as a distributional concept, implying the willingness to share a modicum of resources. Within this conceptual framework, the paper then asks whether the transfers of resources between Member States during the euro area crisis amounted to a genuine expression of solidarity also between citizens. To answer this question, the paper uses Pringle as a test to understand empirically what interstate solidarity in the EU amounted to from a positive law perspective. It concludes that the notion of solidarity that emerged in the Eurozone in the aftermath of the financial crisis does not adhere to a redistributive rationale, being instead rooted in private law and commutative justice.