Bridging the last mile towards a European social citizenship: The case of the Equality Bodies and the European Labour Authority

Abstract

The European Pillar of Social Rights revamped the debate on Social Europe, simultaneously sparking conversations about a European social citizenship, although this remains negatively conceived as primarily reserved for (active) mobile citizens. We argue that the current approach to European social citizenship is biased by a justiciability axiom, which displays a disappointing social scene at the EU. Whereas we do not disagree with this, we argue that an important bulk of what makes rights ‘rights’ is being overlooked: instrumental resources that act as facilitators for accessing social entitlements. We illustrate this point with two examples: the European Equality Bodies and the European Labour Authority. We find that the EU plays a greater role than often accounted for in ensuring that social rights are accessible. While these channels alone are not sufficient for a fully-fledged social citizenship, they can still play an important role in the construction of Social Europe.