The introduction to the report explains the rapid developments in policy cooperation at the EU level in the field of social protection, and, in particular, the open method of coordination. Part I focuses on major trends in expenditure on social protection and part II describes development in social protection policies in the member states.
This study is based on a Eurobarometer survey carried out in 2001. It shows while in most EU member states more traditional forms of poverty have been contained to a large extent by the development of social protection systems, more recent forms of poverty and social exclusion pose new challenges for social justice.