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Introduction: Sustainable Solidarity

Hans Verboven Professor in Business Ethics & Associate fellow of the BASF-Deloitte Chair on Sustainability, University of Antwerp

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I. Flanders and Europe – Necessity and limits to solidarity (1)

This is how it all started …

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I. Flanders and Europe – Necessity and limits of solidarity (2)

This is what we agreed upon:

• Sustainable solidarity requires responsabilisation and discipline;• Democratic deficit of the EU needs to be addressed;• More checks and balances are required;• Avoid design flaws and the institutional labyrinth of the Belgian

federal state in Europe = conclusion of the Flemish authors.

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II. Economy was the solution – now it is the problem.

The EU started: • Amid the wasteland of post war Europe • With a dream of coal and steelIt brought us:• Peace and prosperity To preserve it we need to: • Combine sympathy and solidarity with responsibility and

austerity

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III. Solidarity as an ideology

• Don’t mix religion with economics• We need a wealthy Europe for wealthy Europeans• Poverty is not a virtue

Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

Give a man some money and he’ll be able to pay of his debts one day, give him a money press, and he’ll cause inflation.

MAKE SURE THAT:The right hand knows what the left is spending.

• Empathy versus solidarity

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IV. Re-thinking solidarity

The dose makes the poison

• What is a virtue?• Virtus = Courage = Virtue• Virtue lies between two opposites

• Unconditional solidarity is not a virtue

Cowardice

Courage

Recklessness

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V. Solidarity as an insurance

• A contract with concepts like • affordable premium | good faith | transparency |

subrogation | mitigation | liability | risk management

• Limit solidarity in time and allow people and states to fail

• Dangerous side-effects of solidarity• Free rider phenomenon • Moral Hazard• Samaritan’s dilemma

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VI. Modesty and temperance

• Know thyself – Never too much• Set course by the stars and not by the ships around you

• The cost of concord (Eendracht/Eintracht)

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VI. Modesty and temperance (2)

• Flanders is not Belgium• Germany shows the way• The Irish example

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Extra Europa, nulla salus est

Thank you