By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
LONDON – Six weeks of vacation a year. Retirement at 60. Thousands of euros for having a baby. A good university education for less than the cost of a laptop.
The system known as the European welfare state was built after World War II as the keystone of a shared prosperity meant to prevent future conflict. Generous lifelong benefits have since become a defining feature of modern Europe.
Now the welfare state – cherished by many Europeans as an alternative to what they see as dog-eat-dog American capitalism – is coming under its most serious threat in decades: Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.