Social solidarity and justice principles in the European Union

ABSTRACT In recent years, research has extensively examined the factors shaping support for social policies at the EU level. However, the role of justice principles as an explanatory mechanism remains underexplored. While these principles have been known to influence attitudes towards national welfare policies, their relevance to social policies at the supranational level has yet to be systematically investigated. This study addresses this gap by examining a multidimensional concept of European welfare policies, encompassing proposals for a uniform supranational welfare system, and supranational schemes for unemployment, pensions and health care. We investigate how the core distributive justice principles of equality, need and equity shape individual support for these diverse types of EU welfare policies. Using data from the Transnational European Solidarity Survey dataset, collected in 2016 across 13 European countries, our findings reveal that the principles of equality and need are the strongest predictors of support for EU welfare policies, even when controlling for key explanatory factors identified in prior research. Furthermore, the analysis provides limited evidence that the influence of justice principles on support for supranational welfare policies is moderated by variations in national welfare regimes. Instead, the broader national context shapes how European citizens apply their justice beliefs when endorsing solidarity at the supranational level.