The European Welfare State was born robust in 1945-1947, ten years before the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (later CEE and EU). The European Union has settled down only in the 1980s, after several crises. When the European Union is consolidated, the Welfare State has begun to enter into crisis, although gradually, this is the central argument of this article. The EU will play a decisive role, through the European social fund and the Community directives, in replacing the Welfare State (universal policies based on progressive taxation) by Social Assistance (policies focused on the unemployed and the poor based on the transfer of workers’ income of average sectors for poor workers).

Key words:
Welfare State. Europe. European Union. European Project