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Abstract: The paper analyses the opportunity, importance, implications and chances of success of one of the leading initiatives of the European Union, namely the European Pillar of Social Rights (EpSR). The conclusion is that, because of a number of economic, political and social phenomena manifested in the European Union among 2007 - 2018, such an initiative is highly opportune and may even represent the key factor in relaunching the European project. The analysis reveals that, due to the legal and financial limitations of the current format of the EPSR, this initiative may represent too little for achieving substantial and sustainable results. At the same time, due to reduced chances of securing tangible results in a reasonably short time, the initiative may come too late for re-connecting the European citizens to the European Union project and for counter-acting the trends towards national and local approaches that have already manifested in some of the member countries.
Keywords: European integration, European pillar of social rights, relaunch of European Union project, social market economy, social cohesion
JEL classification: E24, F15, H44, P46
2007 - 2017: European Union in search of itself
In March 2007, a significant moment had been celebrated in the European Union, namely the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, that historical landmark that truly opened the way for the European integration process, first in the Western part of the continent and after 1990 also in the Central and Eastern parts.
At that moment some achievements had been proudly presented, such as the success in conflict avoidance among member states, the existence of the internal market (which was still a work in progress), the Schengen area (for some of the member states) and the Euro (again for some of the member states), as well as the two waves of enlargement in 2004 and 2007.
The celebration of2007 had been somehow shadowed by a number ofexistential questions resulting from the rejection by referendum in 2005 by the French and Dutch electorates of the proposed Constitutional Treaty, a fact that determined Jean-Claude Juncker, then prime minister of Luxembourg to say that "Europe is in deep crisis" (The Economist, 2005). On the same note, Jacques Delors complained in 2007 that the European citizens lacked a dream or a...