Future of the European social model

European Union Member States share a common vision of how society should be organised, which is different from other parts of the world. This has come to be known as the European Social Model. According to the widely shared policy consensus in international organisations, one would expect that Europe must converge to the liberal model. Yet listening, for example, to French election debates, that the conservative model deserves to be saved by all means. Neither of these options are imposing themselves by necessity. The Scandinavian social-democratic model is clearly an alternative. Must European countries converge to one single model? The question seems to be at the core of the legitimacy of the European integration project.