April 2020

Multiple Hidden Risks for Older People: The Looming Pension Crisis Following this Pandemic

by Bernhard Ebbinghaus

Every fourth person in Europe receives an old age, survivor or disability pension benefit, an automatic stabilizer during this crisis
Public pay-as-you go pension will soon come under severe pressure due to fiscal pressures accelerated during this pandemic
Private funded pensions with their additional risks, were hit hard after the 2008 crash and will again increase inequalities in old age in coming years
Older people transitioning from work to retirement will face immediate difficulties that need to be addressed

JESP European Social Policy Blog Launched

By Mikko Kuisma, Janine Leschke, Emmanuele Pavolini, and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser

The current coronavirus pandemic provides a “stress test” to the capacity of our welfare states to protect individuals and households from old and new social risks as well as to foster solidarity among EU Member States. The editorial team and the editorial board of JESP have decided that this is a good time for launching the JESP European Social Policy Blog.

From Moral Hazard to Moral Opportunity. A Dialogue on the COVID19 Crisis and the EU

By Maurizio Ferrera, László Andor, Bea Cantillon, Martin Seeleib-Kaiser and Frank Vandenbroucke

Maurizio Ferrera – The COVID-19 crisis has suddenly reopened the long-standing controversy over solidarity between countries within the EU. Like ten years ago, when the sovereign debt crisis broke out, today the challenge to be addressed is a pan-European emergency. Back then it was feared that financial contagion would expand from South to North. Today all countries are infected with coronavirus: the risk is common; no country is more “guilty” than the others.