EUSOCIALCIT

The future of European social citizenship

This project is funded by the European Union. It evaluates policies to promote European social citizenship. The project should lead to new indicators and implementation studies on social investment, working conditions, housing and minimum income protection. CEBUD participates in the latter part. 

As a partner in the Horizon 2020 project 'The Future of European Social Citizenship (EUSOCIALCIT)', CEBUD will include the implementation of Task 5.2. This task aims to explore how the right to adequate social protection, as included in the European Pillar of Social Rights, can be translated into accompanying measures and indicators. In particular, we aim to highlight and elaborate on the interrelationship between adequate income and affordable goods and services. We find that existing social indicators often provide insufficient normative guidance and concrete translation, which can lead to inappropriate or misleading policy conclusions and advice. In this project, we show that reference budgets are an appropriate tool to monitor and support the implementation of the right to adequate social protection at European, national and local levels. They provide a concrete translation of what is needed to lead a dignified life, establish the link between an adequate income and the affordability of essential goods and services, and are adaptable to allow for individually tailored support.

Two subtasks

First, we have improved the methodology for developing cross-country comparable reference budgets. In this project, we focus only on food baskets and improve comparability both by adjusting the composition of food packages and by exploring new pricing methods. In addition, we have included a sustainability dimension to take into account the needs of future generations. We started with the EAT-Lancet guidelines because they provide a common European basis and also represent a sustainable diet. The next step is to adapt the EAT-Lancet diet to local eating habits, food availability, quality and prices, based on national dietary guidelines. Based on the improved methodology, cross-nationally comparable food baskets for different type families will be developed in four European countries, namely Belgium, Finland, Hungary and Spain. 

Secondly, a position paper has been written on the role of reference budgets in the development of social indicators to support the implementation of the right to adequate social protection in all Member States. This elaborates on what we mean by 'adequacy' and how it relates to the affordability of essential goods and services. The paper focuses on the added value of reference budgets compared to existing indicators and provides concrete recommendations for further research and policy at different levels.