Documents Vonk, Gijsbert 9 results

"This article examines the role played by civil society in the governance of the social sector. In particular it addresses the question of how the emergence of the 'social market model' affects the role that civil society organisations play in the governance of social services. The challenge of social markets is to introduce free choice and competition, without endangering the social values and objectives of the organisations involved. A strong involvement of civil society in the organisations is helpful for this purpose. However, as will be demonstrated by the case studies underlying this article, the emergence of social markets implies a change in civil society involvement: from direct involvement in the provision of social services, to indirect watchdog involvement. The nature of the civil society groups themselves has also changed. The new watchdog organisations are not vested in religion or ideology, but rather single-issue client organisations. In this article we argue that there is nothing wrong or contradictory in the government actively stimulating the involvement of such client organisations in the governance structure of the social sector. Therefore it should adopt new legislative standards giving client representation groups a formal status in the legal structure of 'social enterprises'"

"This article discusses the trend of introducing increasingly strict obligations and sanctions for social security claimants in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. It is argued that this trend should be judged critically because it upsets the balance between rights and obligations for benefit claimants and may undermine the ‘elevating function' of social security. Courts play an important role in maintaining the balance between rights and obligations. The article discusses recent case law in the three countries and also refers to a remarkable case at the Czech Constitutional Court of November 2012, which paves the way for a more fundamental approach to scrutinising repressive welfare state excesses."

"This article discusses some recent trends in the area of immigration and social security. Access to social security is rendered more difficult, particularly for irregular immigrants, while the scope of application of the social security system is more closely linked to the national border (retrenchment to the national borders). It is argued that these trends can be attributed to restrictive immigration policies and the implicit rejection of transnational citizenship. These factors also appear to affect the strength of the transnational informal social security networks of which migrant groups are members. The article calls for an alternative strategy for the social protection of irregular migrants based upon respect for human rights, extra-territorial responsibility of migrants and more socially inspired return policies."

"In many European countries, marginal part-time, (solo-) self-employment and secondary jobs has been increasing since the last decades. The question about the provision of social protection and labour legislation for these types of employment is the starting point for a project entitled “Hybrid working arrangements in Europe”, directed by the WSI. Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Denmark and Austria comprise the group of countries selected in order to investigate “hybrid work” in the context of different welfare state regimes. The following paper by Gijsbert Vonk and Annette Jansen is one of the seven country studies that describe in detail labour law regulations and the national insurance systems for self-employed, secondary jobs and marginal part-time employment."

"The purpose of this final contribution is to offer a broad schematic overview of ‘mechanisms' that can be used to strengthen the social security protection of persons moving in and out of the EU. Seven mechanisms have been selected for discussion: national unilateral standards, EU unilateral standards, bilateral agreements, EU coordination of bilateral agreements, EU third country agreements, multilateral co-operation and global standards. The existence of this plethora of mechanisms, each with its own merits and shortcomings, casts a shadow over the possibility of a uniform EU regime for external social security relations. Any attempt to introduce such an approach can immediately be contradicted by alternative approaches and mechanisms which can be used both by the EU and by the individual Member States. It is suggested that more coherence in external EU social security coordination can perhaps be found in a conceptual way, by layering the seven mechanisms in a logical manner."

" This article outlines the internal coordination of regional and local social security schemes in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a decentralised state with a strong central government. Social security is largely a matter for central government. The article therefore focuses on the area of social assistance and social care, characterised by a system of ‘regulated decentralisation'. It outlines the state of decentralisation, the conflict rules and the coordination mechanisms and, finally, describes the financial regime of the decentralised schemes."

" This article gives a broad overview of the fundamental right of social assistance. The central question is to what extent the fundamental right to social assistance can count on universal recognition and what legal consequences are drawn from this right when it is invoked in national courts. In order to answer this question, we have looked at this right from a global, a regional (Europe and Africa) and a national perspective (Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa). On the basis of this study we discern a broad synergy in the normative context, not only transgressing through but also operating above the national constitutional jurisdictions. It is observed that from a legal perspective the added value of this right lies in the possibility for an individual to address structural shortcomings in the existing architecture of social assistance schemes. This possibility places courts in the position to critically review the system in the light of human rights requirements."

"This contribution deals with the co-ordination of minimum subsistence benefits in EU law. It is argued that the distinction between social assistance schemes and non-contributory benefits in EU social security law is becoming increasingly redundant. This is recognised in the case law of the CJEU, although paradoxically not in a way that strengthens the rights of mobile citizens, but in an adverse manner that undermines the co-ordination efforts of non-contributory benefits under Regulation 883/2004. In order to overcome this problem, it is argued that social assistance should be included in the material scope of application of Regulation 883/2004. This regulation should abandon the concept of special non-contributory benefits and introduce a new category of minimum subsistence benefits, which would also include social assistance schemes. Such a change could be accompanied by a single, coherent principle to govern the relationship between the right to benefits (Regulation 883/2004) and residence rights (Directive 2004/38), if necessary supported by a cost sharing mechanism for minimum substance benefits under Regulation 883/2004 and, preferably, by a recognition of minimum protection standards for economically non-active EU citizens without a legal right of residence."