The European Commission’s entrepreneurship and the social dimension of the European Semester: from the European Pillar of Social Rights to the Covid-19 pandemic

Vesan, Patrik; Corti, Francesco; Sabato, Sebastiano

doi:10.1057/s41295-020-00227-0

Cited by 48 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…While the socialization of the EU's overarching governance framework seemed to have come under pressure early on, some prudence is however warranted: there are some indications that the practices that have been institutionalized during the past decade may, in the end, prove to be quite robust (see also Vesan et al ., 2021). Some interview partners indeed indicated that as of late 2020 and early 2021 there was an inclination to return to the more ‘normal’ Semester practices.…”

Section: The Recovery Facility: Strategic Actors In Search For a Place Around The Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Vanhercke

Verdun

2021

J of Common Market Studies

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How and why did the European Semester end up as the main institutional vehicle of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)? To what extent did this new set‐up change the power balance among key actors (for example, financial and economic actors versus social affairs actors)? Drawing on historical institutionalism and based on 28 semi‐structured interviews and document analysis, our assessment suggests that while social actors were initially side‐lined and national executives strengthened, over time the pendulum is swinging back. The usual actors are strategically using the institutional structures of the revised Semester as a vehicle to ‘have a say’ in the RRF. Having more carrots and sticks suggests further strengthening the pivotal role of the European Commission. Yet having the option of submitting national plans gives member states options too. The EU institutional response to the Covid‐19 pandemic built on, and further cemented, the EU's socio‐economic governance architecture.

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Section: The Recovery Facility: Strategic Actors In Search For a Place Around The Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Vanhercke

Verdun

2021

J of Common Market Studies

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“…Politically, high hopes are placed on the EPSR to address the dualizations and inequalities that have crystallized since Lisbon. Some studies have mainly focused on the politics behind the decision making of the EPSR, especially the role of the European Commission (Vesan et al, 2021), or the political tensions underlying the EPSR (Corti & Vesan, 2020).…”

Section: The Current State Of the Debate And The Covid-19 Pandemic: A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Researching social Europe on the move

Porte¹,

Madama²

2022

Social Policy in Changing European Societies

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“…Hence, many elements of the EU’s (planned) actions in the field of social policy are geared towards establishing minimum standards in respect of issues on which some Member States have already acted (Müller and Schulten, 2020; European Commission, 2013). This has given rise to controversial debates and ongoing struggles around the idea of a Social Europe (Crespy, 2022; Vesan et al, 2021; Höpner, 2018; Crespy and Menz, 2015) in which social policy ambitions are often pursued through comparatively ‘soft’ approaches, such as country-specific recommendations (Vesan et al, 2021). Accordingly, EU social policy has developed slowly in the past with a focus on coordinative policies over distributive ones, as the latter have often not been feasible due to a lack of independent, dedicated resources (Hartlapp, 2019).…”

Section: Literature and Conceptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Into the unknown: Empirical UBI trials as social Europe’s risk insurance

Afscharian

Muliavka

Ostrowski

et al. 2022

European Journal of Social Security

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In this article, we conduct a case study of EU-level debates on universal basic income (UBI) trials, as part of which we examine core contributions in the Conference on the Future of Europe, the election manifestos produced by European party groups, as well as European Parliament debates since 2009. The results indicate that parties and politicians are far more hesitant than citizens to demand UBI, while also relying proportionally more on proposing trials rather than policies. Interpreting the results, we develop a conceptual framework designed to better understand how political decisionmakers at the EU level can deal with the uncertainties involved in European social policymaking. We argue that these actors face legal, political, and suitability risks when proposing policies that would integrate the EU’s social dimension. Unlike in national settings, the potential to pursue various strategies of risk reduction is limited at the EU level. However, we argue that empirical trials of social policies are particularly well-suited to insuring politicians at the EU level against risks. This insurance function is based not only on the scope of empirical trials to reduce uncertainties about policy outcomes, but also on the fact that they are inherently non-binding. By simply proposing empirical trials, actors can influence agendas, benefit from public demands, or reduce public pressure without having to take on the risks associated with implementing a fully-fledged policy proposal. We conclude that empirical trials can be understood as buffers against risks that might be used strategically by politicians, and which have the potential to break stalemates in the future development of a “Social Europe”.

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The European Commission’s entrepreneurship and the social dimension of the European Semester: from the European Pillar of Social Rights to the Covid-19 pandemic

Cited by 48 publications

References 30 publications

The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility

The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility

Researching social Europe on the move

Into the unknown: Empirical UBI trials as social Europe’s risk insurance

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