The European Semester: Institutional Dynamics and National Influence of EU Socio-Economic Governance since the Crisis

Abstract

In the wake of the euro crisis, the EU has restructured its socio-economic governance architecture. Central to this process is the European Semester of policy coordination, which brings together a number of distinct governance instruments with different legal bases into a single annual cycle in which the EU institutions, led by the Commission, set priorities for the Union, review national reform plans, and issue country-specific recommendations (CSRs) to member states. In so doing, the European Semester has linked together ‘soft’ processes such as the Social OMC, the European Employment Strategy, and the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines with ‘hard’ processes like the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP), and the Fiscal Compact, which can lead to financial sanctions for non-compliance. The European Semester also involves an intensification of surveillance and review of national economic, social, and employment policies not only by the Commission, but also by the Eurogroup and expert committees advising the Council. These developments have given the EU institutions a stronger and potentially more intrusive role than ever before in scrutinizing, guiding, and pressing for the reform of national policies, including in the social and employment domains. Yet no sanctions have yet been imposed under the SGP or the MIP, and there is wide disagreement about the institutional dynamics of decision-making at EU level and the extent to which member states have implemented the CSRs, raising deeper questions about the Semester’s influence on national reforms. This panel examines these institutional dynamics and national influence of the European Semester from a variety of theoretical perspectives and empirical standpoints. Combining theoretical analysis and comparative case studies, the panel seeks to offer new empirically grounded insights into the nature and operation of EU socio-economic governance as it has developed since the outbreak of the euro crisis.

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