Introduction

The present chapter is driven by the personal conviction that a European identity must be built around a new form of full employment to be inscribed in the reality and history of its nations. At its heart is solidarity. This chapter seeks to define some of the conditions essential for full employment. Section 2 looks at a straightforward definition that might be provided for full employment based on solidarity. I then go on to examine the consequences of such a definition with respect to how political action is conceived (section 3), different forms of democracy and collective projects yet to be invented (notably where territorial administrations are concerned) (section 4). I conclude in section 5 with a discussion on the role a European Social Dialogue could play in the design of a system of ‘professional social security’ based on a defined status of ‘person potentially in work’.

How might full employment based on solidarity be defined?

A concept of full employment based on solidarity starts out from human aspirations to achieve happiness, to take pleasure in life, to realise one's potential, to succeed in life and in work. Such aspirations are expressed in social movements and are part of the underlying psychological bedrock of each and every one of us. However, there is nothing spontaneous about the solutions to be provided in response to those needs, which we can classify into three broad groups.