THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

– Redistribution of yield-generating assets.

The magnitude of these two ways of redistri-

bution would have to be such that every person

can enjoy a standard of living that is in line with

the national economy’s productive potential.

Needless to say this would be tantamount to

overhauling the dominant economic order com-

pletely and even at the conceptual stage would

raise a huge need for discussion that can only be

mentioned here. This would mean that consid-

eration should first be granted to adapting the

working society rather than doing away with it.

The problem of polarisation

on the European periphery

For large parts of Europe, looking into the fu-

ture the way we have done above may seem

irrelevant with regard to the polarisation prob-

lem of today. Since the periphery has a consider-

able labour surplus, the cartelisation of the

workforce cannot serve as a way of preventing

social polarisation in the foreseeable future. The

number of people who would have to remain

outside of the cartel and instead drift into un-

regulated paid work or precarious self-employ-

ment where there is pressure from undercutting

and outright exploitation is simply too high. In-

come support from the state and public goods

(education, healthcare, housing, school meals

etc.) could alleviate poverty but cannot over-

come polarisation, which consists of the fact

that an urban middle class (not to mention the

wealthy upper classes) is enjoying a standard of

living that is simply out of reach for many. A

major additional problem can be here that soci-

ety does not produce a state that actually does

what could be done in terms of poverty relief.

Alongside these performance limits, which are

anchored in societal power structures in the

state that truly exists, all normative considera-

tions regarding a socially integrated society are

ultimately deflected. And exasperated calls for a

revolution are not helpful. Alongside these per-

formance limits, which are anchored in societal

power structures in the state that truly exists. All

normative considerations regarding a socially

integrated society are ultimately deflected by

these performance limits, which are anchored in

societal power structures. Exasperated calls for

a revolution are not of much help here either.

The periphery, however, is embedded in su-

pranational dynamics, especially in the Europe-

an Union. These dynamics do not only provide

the relevant framework for national develop-

ment efforts in the course of which productive

jobs may arise. They also define a supranational

job market, which draws its labour force from

around the periphery and tends to alleviate the

polarisation problem there but restructures it at

European level. If we put aside the sought-after

specialists, who also earn well in richer coun-

tries, the migrant workers in the host countries

strengthen the structures of exploitation and po-

larisation. In the majority of cases, migrants are

not organised and often have an uncertain legal

status meaning that they can easily be exploited.

They form segments of the labour market which

are usually avoided by the local workforce when-

ever possible. Parallel sectors may also arise from

time to time which then compete with the regu-

lated local sectors (construction).

The Europeanisation of the polarisation

problems on the periphery tends to make them

politically more resilient. The situation of the Ro-

manian harvest workers in Spain has created lit-

tle political energy to fuel efforts to bring about

change, whereas in Romania the social steam,

so to speak, is being let off since the Spanish

(Italian, Austrian, etc.) option offers many Ro-

manians together with their families a positive