It has been a long time in coming. Since the 2014 announcement that European economic governance would be including social aspects it wasn’t until three years later at the end of 2017 that the declaration of the European pillar of social rights was made (c.f. article No. 10455) and which would act as the springboard towards more socially oriented Europe policy making that had been wearing the longstanding label of rowing back on social rights in the name of fiscal rectitude. Thus this year’s country specific recommendations that the most removed from the European project normally experience as a package of Brussels-based decrees to reform the labor market and social systems, ‘will be carving out a key place for social issues (…)’ the European Commission stated before continuing, ‘these recommendations will be especially focusing on the efficiency and sufficiency of social protection safety nets and better social dialogue.’ This shift in focus has been recognized by the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) that has been encouraging the European Commission along the road towards both economic and social policy coordination.
Reinvesting in social legislation* represents the realization of the European Commission President’s commitment to rebalance the social with the economic. In terms of economic governance, and the European semester in particular, the straitjacket of public deficit reduction and structural reform incentives comprise the essential content of the ‘country specific recommendations’. The European Semester aims to pre-empt inter-EU-country macro-economic imbalances and thus fresh crises, especially in the Eurozone, the price of which being augmented supervision by EC institutions of national reforms.
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