Solidarity in the European Union

ended

What principles of socioeconomic justice, if any, should apply to the European Union? Do European citizens have obligations of social justice that cross the borders of member states? If so, what are their grounds? I propose to answer these questions by providing a normative account of one of the fundamental values underpinning European integration, namely solidarity. The project has two main aims. The first is to develop a normative model of inter-, trans-, and supra-national solidarity that is responsive to the specific circumstances and history of the European Union (EUSOL1). The second aim is to apply this model to a number of central issues dividing the EU, including the free movement of persons, burden-sharing within the EU’s refugee policy, inter-state transfers, and enlargement and accession (EUSOL2). The project breaks new ground in normative debates on the nature and development of the EU, international/global justice, and the role of facts in normative political theory, and addresses some of the most pressing issues facing the EU today.