1. Social justice in the EU – participation opportunities have improved in the majority of EU member states, but are still a long way behind precrisis levels
Social justice has improved slightly in the majority of EU member states compared
with last year’s Social Justice Index (SJI 2015). It appears that, after years of decline,
the majority of countries reached their lowest point between 2012 and 2014.
Whether the improvement is a genuine, stable turnaround or just a slight temporary
easing will only become apparent in future reports. At least the downward
trend observed since 2008 in terms of equal participation opportunities has halted
in the majority of member states. However, even seven years after the global economic
crisis first hit, participation opportunities in the vast majority of EU states
– with a few exceptions – are still noticeably worse than before the crisis. Only
five of the 28 EU countries – the Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, the UK,
and Poland – are showing moderate improvements in terms of participation opportunities,
compared with the situation before the economic and financial crisis
