Introduction: Explaining the EU Political System PART I: GOVERNMENT Executive Politics Legislative Politics Judicial Politics PART II: POLITICS Public Opinion Democracy, Parties and Elections Interest Representation PART III: POLICY-MAKING Regulation of the Single Market Expenditure Policies Economic and Monetary Union Citizen Freedom and Security Policies Foreign Policies Conclusions: Rethinking the European Union Appendix: Decision-making Procedures of the European Union Bibliography

The political system of European Union

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European integration has created a constitutional asymmetry between policies promoting market efficiencies and policies promoting social protection and equality. National welfare states are legally and economically constrained by European rules of economic integration, liberalization and competition law, whereas efforts to adopt European social policies are politically impeded by the diversity of national welfare states, differing not only in levels of economic development and hence in their ability to pay for social transfers and services but, even more significantly, in their normative aspirations and institutional structures. In response, the ‘open method of coordination’ is now being applied in the social-policy field. It leaves effective policy choices at the national level, but tries to improve these through promoting common objectives and common indicators, and through comparative evaluations of national policy performance. These efforts are useful but cannot overcome the constitutional asymmetry. Hence there is reason to search for solutions which must have the character of European law in order to establish constitutional parity with the rules of European economic integration, but which also must be sufficiently differentiated to accommodate the existing diversity of national welfare regimes. The article discusses two such options, ‘closer co-operation’ and a combination of differentiated ‘framework directives’ with the open method of co-ordination.

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The European Social Model: Coping with the Challenges of Diversity

Taking economic co-ordination in EMU as a starting point, this article explores the development of the open method of co-ordination, addressing whether it is a new form of governance from two related perspectives. First, to what extent can the method be effectively applied outside the scope of economic policy? Second, will it lead to policy transfer to the EU and hence act only as a transitional mode of governance? Identified at the Lisbon European Council, the method codified practices such as benchmarking, target-setting and peer review developed in the Luxembourg, Cardiff and Cologne processes. The method offers a new approach to governance of the EU as a heterarchical, decentred and dynamic process. It supports and radicalizes the principle of subsidiarity; offers an alternative to the treaty rules on enhanced co-operation; and addresses some of the legitimacy issues inherent in the EU. In EMU, the method arose out of a specific policy framework with a common monetary policy complemented by the coordination of national economic policies. The recent recommendation issued against Ireland is the first example of the operation of the method in EMU and shows how debate can be stimulated and how different and arguably equally valid perspectives defended. The particular experience of EMU with a sound money, sound finance paradigm, a long history of project-building by key elites and the central role of the European Council suggest similar conditions are required for the effective application of the method in other policy spheres. The context within which the method has operated to date is contingent and could change either over time or between policy fields. If so, the very openness of the method may serve to reconfigure the boundaries of competence between the Member States and the Union, after all.

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The open method as a new mode of governance: the case of soft economic policy co-ordination

The conclusions of the European summits since 1992 and the content of the Amsterdam Treaty seem to imply that the employment issue has finally reached the Community agenda. How far does the new approach differ from previous policy? How were the changes of the 1990s achieved? This article reviews previous EU social policy as regards employment issues, then analyses the different elements of the European employment strategy (EES) and offers a preliminary assessment. A major question addressed is how, compared to previous regulation methods, this new process is likely to affect the legitimacy and efficiency of `Social Europe'.

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The European Employment Strategy: Genesis and Development

** Director, Observatoire social europ&eacute;en Employment was not initially on the programme of the intergovernmental conference. However, it gradually came to be seen as a priority on the negotiating agenda. We will give a detailed analysis of the new provisions, highlighting those items which may be the subject of further developments, but also pointing out the shortcomings of the new provisions. In point of fact, employment came to be high on the agenda in the absence of progress in other areas, in particular, the CFSP (Common Foreign and Security Policy) and institutional reform. The six articles which make up this title stem from the dynamic initiated by the 1993 white paper ’Growth, competitiveness, employment’, as well as from the five objectives defined at the Council of Essen (1994). (For a dynamic view of Community employment policy, cf. Goetschy 1997; Pochet 1997). On the other hand, despite pressure from France’s

The Treaty of Amsterdam : a new approach to employment and social affairs ?:

Le nouveau modèle européen

the Member States concerning the content and results of their national employment policies. Also in Amsterdam the new French government had demanded the adoption of a resolution on growth and employment and the holding of an extraordinary summit on employment to ensure rapid implementation of the new provisions (even before the Treaty officially came into force), by way of counterbalancing the budgetary stability pact held so dear by the Germans.

Janine Goetschy

Papers

The European Employment Strategy: Genesis and Development

The Treaty of Amsterdam : a new approach to employment and social affairs ?:

Le nouveau modèle européen

The Luxembourg Jobs Summit, 20 - 21 November 1997 Outcome and analysis: