Constitutions, Social Rights and Sovereign Debt States in Europe: A Challenging New Area of Constitutional Inquiry

Abstract

Constitutions, social rights and sovereign debt states in Europe is a rich new seam of constitutional inquiry that challenges existing constitutional scholarship in various ways. I make five claims about how it expands and challenges existing constitutional and EU scholarship. 1. It is new terrain for constitutional social scholarship. 2. Middle-class and public sector entitlements are a deeply problematic area for constitutional social scholarship. 3. Juristocracy charges cannot be the same in times of EU sovereign debt. 4. It contributes in distinctive ways to questions of the existence of a structured EU, and a shared European, constitutional space. 5. Linking constitutional crisis with euro-crisis and social rights is an important project: Hungary under Orbán as an example.

Keywords: Sovereign debt; Bailout states; Europe; EU; Social and labour rights