The Impact of Stronger Economic Policy Coordination on the European Social Dimension: Issues of Legitimacy

This chapter aims at assessing the impact of the measures taken to strengthen economy policy co-ordination on the European social dimension and, in particular, on the relationship between economic and social objectives in the context of the European integration process. The chapter is structured as follows. First, it looks at the evolution of the European social dimension and at the relationship between the ‘economic’ and the ‘social’, arguing that the need to find a balance between these two dimensions does represent an essential prerequisite for the legitimacy of the European integration process. Secondly, the analysis focuses on the European Semester, examining its architecture and its main components. Thirdly, it takes into consideration the impact of the new co-ordination mechanism on the relationship between the supranational level and the national one in the social domain, by focusing on the extensive powers granted to EU institutions to intervene in this fi eld. Fourthly, it examines the way in which the European Semester, at least in its early cycles, has tended to prioritize a narrow set of economic objectives, such as budgetary discipline and economic growth, over social ones.