Book review: Europäisches Sozialrecht
| Author | Kristina Koldinská |
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262720909203 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
access for immigrants. Nevertheless, other administrative policies must be introduced with it. The
book presents a coherent argument that, along with the goal of reducing the polarisation of the
labour market, makes the ideas presented by the author sound reasonable and acceptable.
One of the ideas proposed in the book is the introduction (from a long-term perspective) of a
universal basic income (UBI). The author shows that such a solution would have many advantages
for poverty reduction, for the simplification of administration and for improving political freedom.
He also reflects on the disadvantages, and the author notes that a UBI may reduce the motivation to
work, cause a drastic drop in the economic growth rate, and concludes that UBI, in its basic form,
would be an incredibly costly strategy for the state. The e xperiments on UBI that have been
conducted so far do not provide an easy answer, and thus the author expresses a cautious optimism
from a long-term perspective. It appears that such a solution may exceed the financial capabilities,
even in a wealthy country like Sweden. It seems that in his calculations regarding the UBI, the
author did not include the growing immigration rates of EU citizens.
With regard to institutional changes, the author proposes a controlled, cautious change of the
‘Swedish model’, especially concerning permission for lower minimum wages for the initial
employment of the immigrants. Because the capabilities and the power of central government and
local self-government are limited, the reforms must be carried out very care fully. The author
concludes that, although Sweden is better equipped than other countries for the ongoing changes,
flaws in the current social contract are becoming visible. This conclusion, in my view, requires
further justification.
Author biography
Irena Lipowicz is a Professor at the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyn´ski University where she is the Head
of the Department of Administrative law and Local Government. She is also a member of the
management board of Societas Iuris Publici Europaei (SIPE) and of the Council of the United
Nations University (UNU). Her research interests lie in the areas of the theory of administrative
law, local self-government, innovations in the public administration and the internal sphere of
administration. E-mail: i.lipowicz@uksw.edu.pl
Maximilian Fuchs (ed.) (2018), Europa
¨isches Sozialrecht, 7th edition, Baden-Baden, Nomos Publishing,
1066 pages, ISBN 978-3-8487-4305-6 (hardback).
Reviewed by: Kristina Koldinsk´
a, Charles University Prague, Czech Republic.
DOI: 10.1177/1388262720909203
The 7th edition of Europa
¨isches Sozialrecht (‘European Social Security Law’) was published at a
time that is not an easy one for the EU. An Economic crisis followed by a migration crisis
contributed to a growth of populism across Europe. Moreover, for the first time in history, one
Member State decided to leave the Union and EU social law or, it may be more accurate to say, EU
Book reviews 93
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