Author: Katharina Höhendinger
Publisher:
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 56
ISBN-13: 9783638897174
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Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 1,7, University of Regensburg (Institut fur Politikwissenschaften), course: "New Governance" in der Beschaftigungspolitik, 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The Barcelona Council in March 2002 confirmed that full employment was the overarching goal of the EU and called for a reinforced Employment Strategy to fortify the Lisbon Strategy. The European Employment Strategy (EES) was to be aligned more closely to the Lisbon goal of sustained economic growth, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion by 2010. The EES initiated a new working method at EU level, which was to become known as the "Open Method of Coordination" (OMC). In contrast to binding legal norms, this method is based on the voluntary cooperation of the MS and the principles of mutual learning and subsidiarity. Unlike the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) with elements of "hard governance," the EES relies on "soft governance." The competences of the MS in the range of employment and social affairs remain untouched. Following the theory of Fritz Scharpf, the effectiveness of policy measures on EU- level depends on the willingness and the ability of national governments to bring in their own resources of legitimacy for the implementation of decisions on European level. The EES itself depends largely on the readiness of the MS to implement the policy measures proposed, as there are not envisioned any financial penalties when not reaching the targets. Subsequent, I try to adumbrate the implementation of the EES in Spain and Portugal starting from a short survey of the economic background on the basis of the Council's recommendations and the NAPs of 2004. I aim to expose the reaction of the national governments on the recommendations. Furthermore, I allude to the linkage between the ESF and the EES and the involvement of the social partners in
