The EU claims to be a „Europe of nations“ or moreover a „Europe of regions“. As far as this reflects the richness that arises from a broad spectrum of cultural diversity and a high level of national sovereignty, this could be imagined as quite charming.
But when it comes to the high level of „diversity“ with regard to the social welfare state in different European countries the EU and particularly the European Commission and the European Parliament still have some issues.
In a traditional society where the care work is usually provided by (female) relatives that live together with those who are in need of care institutionalisation, professionalisation, and with this remuneration of social services may not be necessary. However, what that meant in the past in reality for the caregivers on one hand and the receivers of care and support on the other hand, it should not be subject to historicising romanticisation.
Anyway – the fundaments for such a social care system based on traditional intra-family relations and transactions do not exist anymore or cease to exist sooner or later in the EU region. Again, Lastovo island is an extreme yet significant example displaying all the effects that a geographical highly mobile society brings. And here it is not only about the geographical mobility of the different generations in remote areas. It’s also about changes in inter-generational relations, women’s liberation, change in the attitudes towards life etc. that affect urban areas as well as (more and more) depopulated rural zones.
As consequence of these societal developments the EU citizen and the EU institutions will have to take into consideration what level of difference in the quality of life of people in need of support and of people providing care to them is still acceptable and what the threshold value to the unacceptable should be.
The differences in terms of the funding of long-time care (LTC) services in Germany and Croatia are extreme with strong effects on the availability and quality of care services that produce corresponding differences in the quality of life of care receivers and the quality of work of care givers. In Croatia there is no or near to no funding for innovations in care may it be social, technical, or socio-technical. If this situation prevails, it is quite questionable how long the Croatian social care „system“ will still work. Not questionable will be the consequences, only when and where the collapsing will start still remains unfold.
