Max Planck Hub Fiscal and Social State

As of 1 January 2024, the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy and the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance have established the “Max Planck Hub Social and Fiscal State” which is meant to bring together perspectives from social law as well as from tax law in the context of foundational legal research.

The sequence of fiscal and social challenges for the European Union we have witnessed in the past 15 years, ranging from the financial crisis and the Euro crisis to the Covid-19-pandemic and the war in Ukraine, followed by an energy crisis, have stretched the fabric of the European Union to its outer limits. We see the necessity to take a fresh look at the overall structure – taking into account both the constitutional aspects as well as the economic and financial impact of the current and possible future systems.

In this context, the lecture series on the “Future of the Fiscal State and the Social State in the European Union” has been set up in order to address major issues of the future framework of the European Union dealing with taxation, social security, fiscal transfers, multi-level fiscal and social governance and the concept of solidarity within Europe. It is meant to address both the division of labour between the Member States and the European Union as well as the interaction between the different European Institutions and their inner workings.