The Role of Social Partners in the Revamped EU Socio-Economic Governance Architecture

Regulation 1263, adopted in April 2024, has significantly reshaped the EU’s macroeconomic coordination process, the European Semester, introducing Medium-Term Fiscal Structural Plans (MTFSPs) to be submitted by national governments starting October 2024. This paper investigates the role of national social partners in the development of these MTFSPs and their engagement with the first 2025 national progress reports on implementation. It examines the significance of the European Semester fact-finding missions and explores how social partner participation in these meetings may enhance their influence, ownership, or acceptance of both country reports and country-specific recommendations within the broader Semester framework. Additionally, the paper assesses social partners’ familiarity with the newly applied Social Convergence Framework (SCF) in the 2025 European Semester cycle and contrasts this with their overall knowledge of the Semester process. The paper presents the empirical research methodology followed by an analysis of key findings from 2024–25, highlighting initial insights from ongoing follow-up research in 2026 and how this longitudinal study contributes to understanding social partner engagement in EU economic governance.