Solidarity and autonomy in the European Union

Abstract

To determine at which level a particular policy domain ought to be governed, we need normative principles of levelism. In this contribution, I articulate and defend two normative principles of levelism for distributive justice in the European Union. According to the Highest-Level Solidarity Principle, we should transfer distributive solidarity to the highest level of the multilevel polity. In the EU, this is the EU-wide level. According to the Policymaker Pays Principle, policymaking and funding should be located at the same level: the level that makes the policy should also be the level that funds the policy (assuming background justice conditions of justice apply). My conclusion is that, since the funding for core redistributive projects should be Europeanized, and since funding and policymaking should be allocated to the same level, we have a pro tanto reason to Europeanize both the funding and the policymaking over core redistributive powers.