The European Social Model has been subjected to sustained attack at the ideological level, and steps have been taken in many countries to 'roll back' a number of its core features. In this debate, globalisation is frequently used as an argument that social Europe is no longer affordable and is a barrier to necessary reforms and to competitiveness.

Against this background, this note turns first to the facts about Europe's position in the global economy, moving on to consider possible links from globalisation to the European Social Model and the alleged necessity of reform. It then looks in more detail at specific features of the model and at arguments about the (in)efficiency of social institutions, before closing with a number of questions that Europe's trade unions need to address in the coming years.

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