Austerity and social retrenchment in Southern Europe. The fragmentation of the Mediterranean welfare model

Abstract

Southern European countries have been impacted longer and harder than other European Union members by the post-2008 economic crisis. The financial difficulties faced by Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain have brought their welfare states under intense strain. Bail-outs and political surveillance by the European Union have triggered reform in several welfare areas. Far-reaching institutional changes and urgent transformations in social services have been paralleled by shifts and cuts in social protection in order to achieve fiscal consolidation. The article discusses the broad repertoire of reforms introduced in Southern Europe in order to tackle the quandary of targeting fiscal constraint while striving to maintain social protection thresholds. It also reviews the internal fragmentation of the Mediterranean welfare model, assessing its consistency as a welfare regime, in view of the diversity of national reform trajectories prior to and during the crisis.