The impact of social disinvestment on vulnerable groups during the crisis in Europe

RE‐InVEST is an ongoing Horizon 2020 research project, in which academic researchers, civil society organisations and vulnerable people at grassroots level from 12 European countries jointly reflect on the foundations of a social investment strategy for a more inclusive Europe. In the first stage of the research, 13 local groups (NEETs, mental health care users, migrants, disabled people, homeless people, families at risk of eviction) analysed how the crisis of 2008‐2013 affected their capabilities and human rights, as well as their relations with society at large. This ‘merging of academic, professional and experiential knowledge’ resulted in a unique and incisive account of the devastating effects of austerity policies on vulnerable groups in Europe.

The economic impact of the crisis was obviously very different across Europe, with countries such as Austria and Switzerland experiencing a far lower impact than Portugal, Latvia or Romania in terms of unemployment, poverty and austerity measures. Nevertheless, vulnerable groups in all study countries experienced severe damage through various mechanisms: labour market effects and related income losses (unemployment, wage decreases, forced migration, precarious and unprotected work and weaker unemployment protection), housing market effects (evictions, homelessness, increased rents), financial exclusion (over‐indebtedness, no access to credit) and government measures (tax increases, ‘social disinvestment’ through increased prices or cutbacks in public services, austerity measures in social protection). These mechanisms affected the basic rights and capabilities of vulnerable groups in quite dramatic, long-lasting and often almost irreversible ways (school dropout, health damage, disrupted family ties, social isolation, etc.). Above all, our vulnerable research partners experienced severe psycho‐social distress, due to a ‘social climate change’. The effects reach beyond the individual level and undermine the collective agency of local communities, civil society organisations, cities and public services. Overall, vulnerable people experience a generalised increase in individualism, social distrust and stigma, and a weakening of social rights as public services are getting overburdened and adopt more controlling and punitive ways of treating their clients.

The research findings provide concrete suggestions for the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, combining a social investment agenda with legal measures to strengthen of the principle of non-regression in the protection of basic social rights.