This book addresses the central question of European solidarity in the face of a multitude of crises in Europe and focuses on its discursive manifestation in public debates. It is the first to systematically examine national debates on redistributive policies in the EU and the role of European solidarity within them by analysing French and German parliamentary debates on redistributive EU policies during the euro crisis and the migration crisis. By doing so, the book addresses the question of how relevant the idea of European solidarity is when redistributive policies in the EU are discussed at the national level and examines the conditions under which it is ascribed more or less relevance. Moreover, the book reveals that what European solidarity actually means in practice is often highly contested.

Dr. Raphaela Hobbach worked as a Research Associate at the Geschwister Scholl Institute for Political Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich from 2015 to 2020, where she specialised in European politics and international relations. Currently, she works as a Senior Project Manager in the field of European democracy and international dialogue at the independent think tank Das Progressive Zentrum in Berlin.

Introduction: On the relevance of European solidarity.- Conceptualisation and theory.- Research design and data basis.- The overall pattern of public justifications.- National comparison I: the relevance of European solidarity in the French versus the German debate during the euro crisis.- National comparison II: the relevance of European solidarity in the French versus the German debate during the migration crisis.- Crisis comparison: the relevance of European solidarity during the euro crisis versus the migration crisis in France and Germany.- Summary and discussion.