Sebastiano Sabato

• PhD
• Senior Researcher at European Social Observatory

This article examines two questions. First, how far have the green and social policy objectives of the European Green Deal and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) been translated into ‘eco-social policies’ (i.e. demonstrate a ‘socio-ecological’ dimension) in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of four of the biggest beneficiar...

This study – commissioned by the Belgian Federal Minister for Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal in the framework of the 2024 Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU– assesses how the ‘leave no one behind’ principle has so far been considered in the implementation of the European Green Deal (EGD), to ensure a just, gre...

European Union (EU) Member States have made multiple commitments to progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), so that everyone can access quality healthcare without experiencing financial hardship. Yet, significant gaps in all three dimensions of health coverage (population coverage, user charges, and benefits packages) remain. This article...

In this article, we argue that, since the publication of the European Green Deal, an EU framework for a just transition is gradually emerging, consisting of legislation, funding and guidelines to ensure that the opportunities deriving from the green transition are exploited, while the related social challenges are addressed. Relying on qualitative...

Even though research on eco-social policies and just transition is growing, only a few studies have to date performed systematic analyses of concrete policy initiatives. This contribution aims to fill this gap, focussing on the European Union (EU) level. The main objective is to critically investigate the core features of prominent EU policy instru...

This Research paper discusses the close links between social and ecological transition policies, reflects on the role the welfare state could play in this process and considers the added value and limitations of the emerging ‘EU framework for a just transition’. Areas for further action are identified and recommendations to policymakers are provide...

This chapter is structured as follows. Section 1 summarises the initiatives topping the EU agenda which have been analysed in-depth in the 'Bilan social 2022' edited volume. Section 2 completes the picture of the EU’s social policy agenda during 2021 and the first half of 2022 (the period covered by the book), discussing some of the more recent ini...

At the beginning of 2022, hopes were high that the Covid-19 pandemic was on the ebb and that the EU would be able to focus again on the main challenge of this century: how to proactively tackle the green and digital transition in a socially fair and inclusive way. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine dashed these hopes. Realpolitik was back on the a...

Confronted with formidable challenges such as the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate change and the green and digital transitions (to mention just a few), the European Union (EU) needs to show unprecedented ambition. It appears crucial for future initiatives to ensure social fairness and social cohesi...

In view of the formidable challenges ahead related to recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and to the green and digital transitions, the EU social governance toolbox should urgently be strengthened. This paper discusses the conditions for and added value of setting up an EU Social Imbalances Procedure (SIP), which would be a significant step in this d...

Introduced in 2011, the European Semester has been a prominent governance process at the European Union level for over a decade. Initially mainly focussed on macroeconomic and fiscal priorities, over the years attention to social policies has also increased. In the intentions of the von der Leyen Commission, and in line with the ambitions of the Eu...

The spread of the Covid‑19 pandemic and the consequent adoption of lockdown measures to prevent further infection had severe consequences on European labour markets. All EU governments quickly made unprecedented economic and social support available to tackle the consequences of the pandemic (Baptista et al. 2021; European Commission 2021). At the...

Ce cahier vise à cartographier les principales mesures de protection sociale prises pendant la pandémie de Covid-19, en se concentrant sur les travailleurs atypiques et les indépendants. Ce contexte imprévisible a placé la protection sociale en pleine lumière, en rappelant aux décideurs politiques et aux citoyens le rôle essentiel d'une protection...

This report assesses the socio-ecological dimension of the EU’s recovery strategy from the Covid-19 crisis, and identifies elements of continuity and change compared to the pre-pandemic EU growth strategy. Several possible social challenges related to the green transition are acknowledged in the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). To addre...

This infographic illustrates some results of the book on "Social protection and inclusion policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis. An analysis of policies in 35 countries"

This ESPN report examines (sub)national social protection and inclusion policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the 27 EU Member States, the UK, and the 7 candidate and potential candidate countries. It reveals an overall rapid reaction through the introduction of (mostly) temporary measures - primarily relaxing eligibility conditions, increasin...

This article reconstructs the role of European Commission President’s political entrepreneurship in the further socialisation of the European Semester. Firstly, it analyses the context in which Juncker promoted the European Pillar of Social Rights. Secondly, it presents how such an initiative was mainstreamed into the Semester. Finally, by distingu...

The purpose of this study is to map the measures related to unemployment benefits, sick pay and sickness benefits, and special leave arrangements introduced by the EU Member States during the Covid-19 pandemic. The specific focus is on non-standard workers and the self-employed, as well as on the gender dimension. This report shows that a variety o...

The aim of this working paper is to provide a preliminary assessment of whether the European Green Deal constitutes a suitable policy framework to combine environmental and economic objectives with the pursuit of social fairness, thus ensuring a just transition towards more sustainable economies and societies. Such an assessment appears particularl...

This chapter outlines the history of practices and discourses of social innovation in the EU, thus demonstrating how EU institutions have shaped the meaning and content of social innovation over time. It discusses the historical roots of social innovation in Europe and analyses how it evolved from a grassroots model of social action in the 1970s in...

The Italian case study about public sector trade union involvement in the Europen Semester finds: (a) an increasing awareness of the Semester outcomes and procedures by Italian Trade Unions. Nonetheless, despite this new attitude towards the semester, seen now as a ‘window of opportunity’ and despite the inclusion of public sector, edu-cation and j...

In this article we explore the interaction between resources for social innovation (SI) provided by the European Union (EU) and local SI initiatives. We analyse eleven case studies implemented in five countries and in three policy domains linked to the fight against poverty and social exclusion, with a view to understanding how and to what extent E...

This study on behalf of the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee explores the possibility of establishing three policy instruments to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) and rebalance the economic and social dimensions of the E(M)U. First, Member States should put their money where their mouth is and live...

This paper explores the potential of the European Union (EU) to promote synergies between environmental and social policies, so as to implement an ‘eco-social agenda’. We aim at answering two research questions: 1) What is the approach followed by the EU in order to link and create synergies between these two policy domains?; and 2) What are the go...

Full book available at: https://www.etui.org/Publications2/Books/Social-policy-in-the-European-Union-state-of-play-2018

A dominant theme of this annual review of social policy in the European Union is the way in which the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) has slowly but steadily started to influence EU policymaking, well before it was politically endorsed in November 2017. The Pillar’s new ‘rights-based social investment approach’ is at present leaving its mar...

"An exemplary multi-level comparative study of the Europe 2020 anti-poverty strategy, based on a rigorous analytical framework. A particular strength of the volume is its actor-centred approach and process-tracing methodology, which demonstrates the crucial role of domestic opposition and support in shaping the national effects of the EU's poverty-...

This study on behalf of the Workers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee aims to analyse early initiatives launched in the context of the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) and to provide the EESC with concrete policy recommendations to ensure its effective implementation. Four key findings stand out. First, the Pillar has, wit...

La 18e édition du Bilan social de l'Union européenne fait état des politiques sociales menées aux niveaux européen et national. L'ouvrage présente les contributions d'éminents universitaires qui analysent les tentatives pour sortir des multiples crises ayant frappé l'UE depuis 2008. Les énormes défis auxquels l'UE a été confrontée en 2016 ont mis s...

Le chapitre est organisé comme suit. La section 1 décrit brièvement les principaux traits de la « première ébauche de socle européen des droits sociaux » publiée par la Commission en mars 2016. La section 2 dépeint les positions et préoccupations – à la fois sur les questions de fond et de gouvernance – des principaux acteurs européens concernant c...

Tenant compte des chapitres de ce "Bilan social de l'Union européenne 2017", nous examinons d’abord les principaux événements de « politique générale » qui ont marqué l’UE en 2016, notamment le Brexit et la crise des réfugiés. Nous réfléchissons aux implications de ces événements en termes d’intégration, de désintégration et/ou d’intégration différ...

This article examines the peer review meetings held under the Open Method of Coordination for Social Protection and Social Inclusion. I explore the potential of peer reviews for developing policy learning and transfer dynamics. I claim that peer reviews are able to promote mutual learning among the participants in the form of 'horizontal' and refle...

This article investigates how “social innovation” made its way onto the European Union (EU) agenda and how this notion has been creatively used to advance distinct policy goals. It does so by analysing the resources the EU provided to promote social innovation over the period 2006–2014. Three main conclusions arise. First, between 2006 and 2010 the...

Structural reforms are increasingly at the core of the European and national agenda. But what are they? And what are the main factors shaping their content? This analysis of the structural reforms adopted between 2008 and 2015 in five European Union (EU) countries – the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Italy – addresses these two quest...

The Social Investment Package (SIP) can be seen as a platform set up by the Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) to increase its ability to influence decisions taken within the European Semester and to steer social policy reforms in the Member States. Key elements of DG EMPL’s strategy are: a) the...

This Sythesis report is meant to assist the European Commission in the implementation of the February 2013 'Social Investment Package' SIP and informing its monitoring, in particular in the context of the European Semester and the Social Open Method of Coordination (OMC). The report builds on national contributions from the 35 ESPN country teams...

In the midst of the economic, financial and sovereign debt crises, the shift from the “Lisbon agenda” to the “Europe 2020” phase in 2010 - with the launch of the novel European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth - has represented a critical juncture for European coordination strategies in the social policy sector. Compared to the...

The period since the outbreak of the financial, economic and social crises in Europe has witnessed a renewed focus on the need to develop a more sustainable and qualitative growth model. A model where the traditional focus on economic growth (i.e. GDP growth) is complemented by an adherence to a wider range of qualitative indicators. Indicators whi...

Initially welcomed as a relevant step forward for the EU social dimension, the Europe 2020 quantitative poverty target, aimed at lifting 20 million people out of poverty by 2020, appears less reachable today than three years ago. Not only poverty is on the rise in Europe and recent austerity measures in several Member States might kill the «sick pa...

This Working Paper provides a qualitative assessment of one of Europe 2020's flagship initiatives: the 'European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion' (EPAP). The paper argues that a transformed EPAP has the potential to provide strong added value for the EU's toolbox in the fight against poverty. Rather than throwing out the baby with the...

Poverty is on the rise in Europe and EU driven austerity measures risk to kill the sick patient. Is the EU social policy tool-kit effective in combating poverty thus counterbalancing the consequences of unfavourable economic developments and fiscal consolidation interventions? The fight against poverty and social exclusion has long been a fundament...

This Executive Summary provides a short overview of the large body of material that has been produced in the European Commission-funded research project (1) carried out by the Public Policy and Management Institute (PPMI) and the European Social Observatory (OSE). It deals with the Peer Review in Social Protection and Social Inclusion Programme. Th...