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"Belgium is a federation in turmoil. Politicians of the two language communities find it increasingly difficult to reach common ground on many issues. Social policy stands in the middle of these tensions. At present, social federalism in Belgium is still at an immature stage. However, as a result of constitutional reform in the course of the last decennia social policy has become embedded at the regional, the federal as well as at the European level. Moreover, the more prosperous region of Flanders has expressed the wish to develop its own social protection, and introduced among others a Flemish Care Insurance. These developments have resulted in the creation of a “layered welfare state”.



The authors of this book critically assess the current stage of social federalism in Belgium and ask how against the background of the major challenge of an ageing population an effective social policy can be shaped. The book considers at which level the bulk of an effective social policy is best situated, what the role of the sub-national entities can be, and which limitations are imposed by the constitutional and European framework. The various forms of power allocation are considered for social federalism in Belgium.

From the perspective of various scientific disciplines and averse to any political dogma, this book pleads for a more nuanced thinking on social federalism in Belgium."

"In 1999 werd de Vlaamse zorgverzekering geïntroduceerd. De bevestiging daarvan door het Grondwettelijk Hof gaf vleugels aan de Vlaamse verzuchtingen naar een eigen sociaal beleid. Sociaal beleid is echter ingebed op verschillende niveaus: regionaal, federaal en Europees.

Die gelaagdheid is een gegeven waarmee de uitbouw van een Vlaams sociaal beleid rekening moet houden. In dit boek gaan de auteurs kritisch in op de wijze waarop men in België omgaat met het gelaagd karakter van het sociaal beleid. Hoe kan, gezien de grote uitdaging van de vergrijzing, in de huidige Europese en Belgische context vorm worden gegeven aan een doelmatig sociaal beleid? Welke rol kan Vlaanderen spelen in dat complex gelaagd beleid? Op welk niveau zou een effi ciënt en solidair sociaal beleid het best zijn zwaartepunt vinden? Welke grenzen worden gesteld door het federale en door het Europeesrechtelijke kader? Welke actoren bepalen de ruimte voor en de grenzen aan een Vlaams sociaal beleid?

Vanuit verschillende wetenschappelijke disciplines en wars van politieke dogma's wordt in dit boek gepleit voor een meer genuanceerd discours over exclusieve bevoegdheden en homogene bevoegdheidspakketten."

"Some scholars argue that intra-EU labour migration improves the allocation of human capital in Europe and that labour mobility is still too low to constitute a single European labour market. Others insist that free movement of labour and services makes employment more precarious and causes wage dumping. Less attention has been given to the origins, destinations and nature of flows of posted workers, partly because data on posting are scarce. We aim to fill this gap by exploring unique posting data for Belgium. We argue that while the free movement of labour and a single European labour market have been policy goals for decades, it is the free movement of services that is shaping a hybrid single European labour market, since high levels of short-term service mobility are more significant than long-term labour migration. This is as much a phenomenon of intra-EU15 mobility as of post-accession mobility, and is set to remain more prevalent than classic free movement of labour."

"The role of the Court of Justice in furthering the integration of the European Union is an unresolved topic of debate. This article contributes to the judicialization debate by assessing the impact of the Vander Elst Case‐law, which allowed third‐country nationals (TCNs) to be posted freely across the EU without work permits in the countries of posting. Based on Belgian posting data, we demonstrate that the ECJ introduced a mobility regime that is growing in importance and even outnumbers classical labour migration. We argue that judicialization not only results in ‘codification' of its case‐law or ‘modification' of it, but also in ‘Direct Design', whereby the Court creates new economic realities all by itself. While this regime further lessens the migration sovereignty of member states, the rising use of posting indicates at the same time the increasing role of the free movement of services in developing a single European labour market."