The European Commission as a Policy Entrepreneur under the European Semester

Abstract

This article discusses the impact that the reforms of the European Union’s economic governance since 2011 have had on the European Commission’s role as a policy entrepreneur. Particular attention is paid to mechanisms that are applied by the Commission to extend its scope beyond its given formal competences to shape national reform agendas. The research interest is based on the assumption that the Commission is a ‘competence-maximising rational actor’ (Pollack, 1997), whose primary organisational goals are to expand the scope of Community competence and increase the Commission’s own standing within the policy process. Accordingly, this research contributes to the scholarly debate by identifying mechanisms applied by the Commission under the European Semester to shape European and national reform agendas in areas of sovereign policymaking competences of the member states.

Reconsidering the drivers of country-specific recommendations: The Commission's ideological preferences on wage policies

“…As the numerous models presented in this article have shown, the Commission's likelihood of issuing a CSR in the policy areas I investigate is considerably higher if countries display highly centralized wage-setting systems and are characterized by high collective bargaining coverage rates. Thus, my findings are mostly in line with the analyses of scholars which have found evidence that within the framework of the new European economic governance the Commission has emerged as a politicized actor (Erne, 2015; Zeilinger, 2021).…”

“…Pre-GFC policy coordination attempts between member states on labour market matters mostly relied on soft law, benchmarking and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). However, with the establishment of the Semester, the coordination between member states became inscribed into a ‘regime of hard-governed fiscal policy’ (Zeilinger, 2021: 63). This in turn entailed that the EU's labour market governance acquired, as stated by Roland Erne, a ‘vertical’ dimension, whereby the articulation of the Commission's policy preferences plays an important role for member states (Erne, 2015).…”

Sustainability of the Social Security System : Demographic Challenges and Answers in Central Europe

“…30 See e.g. Eichenhofer, 1994;Schuler, 1988. 31 Rab summarises that one of the fundamental aims of guaranteeing social rights is to create a framework for employment.…”

The European Commission as Political Entrepreneur – The Europe 2020 Strategy

“…In addition, the European Commission developed an ex ante surveillance system in the annual European Semester strengthening the European governance structure and empowering the European Commission (Zeilinger, 2021;Begg, 2007). The European Semester gave the Commission a tool to assess member-states´ budgetary plan, macroeconomic challenges and structural reforms and provided the Commission the chance to set out member-states proposals on reforms to be taken.…”