This article starts with a brief review of the European Employment Strategy
(EES) and a general evaluation of its scope and limitations, then provides an
assessment of the five-year review conducted by the European Commission. It
examines the new form that has been given to the EES for the 2003 exercise, on
the basis of the conclusions drawn from the five-year review. It argues that
this change involves more than mere presentation, but fails to address the
inherent limitations of the EES as currently constituted. Lastly, the article
compares the employment guidelines with the original proposals made by the
Commission, and draws conclusions regarding the balance of interests and forces
in the policy-making process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
EC
(2002a) ‘Taking Stock of Five Years of the European
Employment Strategy’, COM (2002) 416 final.
Brussels: European Commission
.
2.
EC
(2002b) ‘On Streamlining the Annual Economic and
Employment Policy Coordination Cycles’, COM (2002) 487 final.
Brussels: European Commission
.
3.
EC
(2002c) Employment in Europe 2002.
Luxembourg: OOPEC
.
4.
ETUI
(2003) ‘Economic and Employment
Outlook’, Report by the ETUI to
the ETUC Executive Committee
(unpublished, available from the author).
5.
Foden, D.
(2000) ‘The Establishment of the European Pact
for Employment’, in
E. Gabaglio
and
R. Hoffmann
(eds) European Trade Union Yearbook 1999, pp.
219-237.
Brussels: ETUI
.
6.
Foden, D.
and
Magnusson, L.
(eds) (2003) Five Years’ Experience of the
Luxembourg Employment Strategy.
Brussels: ETUI
.
7.
Goetschy, J.
(2001)
‘The European Employment Strategy from Amsterdam to Stockholm:
Has it Reached its Cruising Speed?’
, Industrial Relations Journal32(5):
401-418
.
8.
Goetschy, J.
(2003)
‘The European Employment Strategy and the Open Method of
Coordination: Lessons and Perspectives’
, Transfer9(2):
281-301
.
9.
Jacobsson, K.
and
Schmid, H.
(2002) ‘Real Integration or Just Formal
Adaptation? On the Implementation of the National Action Plans for
Employment’, in
C. de la Porte
and
P. Pochet
(eds) A New Approach to Building Social Europe: The Open Method of
Coordination, pp. 69-95.
Brussels: PIE-Peter Lang
.
10.
Keller, B.
(2000) ‘The New European Employment Policy, or:
Is the Glass Half full or Half empty?’, in
R. Hoffmannet al.
(eds) Transnational Industrial Relations in Europe, pp.
29-44.
Düsseldorf: Hans-Böckler-Stiftung
.
11.
Larsson, A.
(1998)
‘The European Employment Strategy and the EMU — You
Must Invest to be Able to Save!’
, Meidner Lecture, 18 March. URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/employment_social/speeches/980318al.htm.
12.
Noaksson, N.
and
Jacobsson, K.
(2003) ‘The Production of Ideas and Expert
Knowledge in OECD: The OECD Jobs Strategy in contrast with the EU Employment
Strategy’, Score Research Report 2003/7. URL: http://www.score.su.se/pdfs/2003-7.pdf.
13.
Schettkat, R.
(2001)
‘Structural Revolution: The Interaction of Product and Labor Markets’
, Intereconomics36 (January/February):
34-43
.
14.
Schmid, G.
and
Gazier, B.
(eds) (2002) The Dynamics of Full Employment: Social
Integration through Transitional Labour Markets.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
.
15.
Schmid, G.
,
O’Reilly, J.
and
Schömann, K.
(eds) (1996) International Handbook of Labour Market Policy
and Evaluation.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
.
16.
Serrano Pascual, A.
(2003a) ‘A Contribution to Evaluation of the
European Employment Strategy: What Lessons from the First Five Years of
Implementation of the EES?’, in
E. Gabaglio
and
R. Hoffmann
(eds) European Trade Union Yearbook 2002, pp.
237-259.
Brussels: ETUI
.
17.
Serrano Pascual, A.
(2003b) ‘Towards Convergence of European
Activation Policies?’, in
D. Foden
and
L. Magnusson
(eds) Five Years’ Experience of the Luxembourg Employment
Strategy, pp. 141-165.
Brussels: ETUI
.
18.
Watt, A.
(2000)
‘ “What Has Become of Employment Policy?”
Explaining the Ineffectiveness of Employment Policy in the EU’
, Basler Schriften zur europäischen Integration47/48.
19.
Watt, A.
(2003) ‘The Report of the Hartz Commission in the
Context of the European Employment Strategy’, unpublished
manuscript (available from the author).
20.
Watt, A.
and
Janssen, R.
(2003) ‘Evaluation of the ECB’s Review of
its Monetary Policy Strategy. URL: http://www.etuc.org/ETUI/Publications/ECB/ECBletrep.cfm.
