Analysing the solidarity principle in the European Union social model.

This presentation provides a description of the solidarity principle, which had a crucial impact on a variety of the institutional and juridical settings of the European States in the post-WWII constitutions. Also, in the EU legal system, the constitutional value of the solidarity principle seems to influence the different approaches regulating inequality and redistribution, especially with respect to the effect on access to health services, social services, taxation and civil contract as instruments of distributive justice. As a matter of fact, there is an intricate "European Union social model". It is grounded on European constitutional tradition, EU treaties, and EU second level legislation, and it is also founded on the meaning of EU citizenship recognised by the EU Court of Justice, which includes the right of free circulation and the principle of non-discrimination. The solidarity principle is related to many of the historical traditions of the European legal systems (starting with the Summa Theologica, in which Catholic ideas of solidarity are expressed which crossed through the Age of Enlightenment and continued in the formation of the welfare states). It is only possible to talk about the solidarity principle and social rights after the entry into force of the international treaties and the "second generation" of constitutions; particular attention is given to the Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian and Bulgarian Constitutions as case studies.