THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Towards a new legislative term

FIVE YEARS WITH THE PILLAR OF SOCIAL RIGHTS: EUROPE’S SOCIAL SITUATION IN TIMES OF CRISES 83 A look at the social situation in the individual Mem- ber states as measured by the Social Scoreboard shows for 2021 that 18 of 27 states in the EU score above average on more than half of the indicators ( Table 3 ). Not particularly surprising is the very good position of the Scandinavian states, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium, which usually occupy the top positions in comparative welfare state research as far as the social benefits provided are concerned. It is also obvious that the last three countries that have joined the EU – Croa- tia, Bulgaria, and Romania – have relatively bad results, as do the southern European countries of Italy, Spain and Greece, which have been hit hard by the euro crisis and also by the pandemic. In contrast, according to the Table 3. Social Scoreboard aggregated indicator’s change 2017/2021 Country Number of above-average social indicators 2017 Number of above-average social indicators 2021 Change between 2017 and 2021 Slovenia 13 14 +1 Finland 12 12 0 The Netherlands 13 12 -1 Denmark 14 12 -2 Sweden 14 12 -2 Czech Republic 12 12 0 Austria 13 11 -2 Ireland 9 10 +1 Hungary 7 10 +3 Belgium 11 10 -1 Slovakia 9 9 0 Luxembourg 13 9 -4 Poland 9 9 0 Estonia 9 9 0 Latvia 7 8 +1 Malta 11 8 -3 France 11 8 -3 Portugal 8 8 0 Germany 10 7 -3 Cyprus 9 7 -2 Lithuania 9 7 -2 Croatia 4 6 +2 Bulgaria 4 4 0 Spain 2 3 +1 Italy 3 3 0 Romania 3 3 0 Greece 2 2 0 Source : EU Social Scoreboard, own calculations.