The future of European social citizenship what is the citizens’ view?

This chapter studies citizens’ views on the future of European social citizenship. It starts with a short review of research on quantitative measurements of attitudes toward social policies at the EU level. The main part of the chapter is an analysis of qualitative data gathered in focus group discussions in Madrid, Amsterdam, Warsaw, and Berlin in 2022. A first important finding is that the high overall support for a “Social Europe,” though existent, also goes along with a high degree of skepticism regarding the potential to implement common social policies on the EU level. Second, the discussions reveal a duality between universalism, which citizens relate more to equal rights in general, and conditionality, which citizens see relate more to concrete social benefits and transfers. Third, there is more support for social investment policies to be provided at the EU level, whereas traditional social policies are to be left in the hands of national welfare states.