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Measuring Economic Reform Recommendations under the European Semester: ‘One Size Fits All’ or Tailoring to Member States?

Authors:
Valerie D'Erman
Valerie D'Erman
Valerie D'Erman
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Jörg Haas
Jörg Haas
Jörg Haas
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Daniel F. Schulz-Bianco at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Berlin
Daniel F. Schulz-Bianco
  • Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Berlin
Amy Verdun at University of Victoria
Amy Verdun
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Abstract and Figures

In 2010 the European Semester was created to better coordinate fiscal and economic policies within Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union. The Semester aims to tackle economic imbalances by giving European Union (EU) member states country-specific recommendations (CSRs) regarding their public budgets as well as their wider economic and social policies with a view to enabling better policy coordination among Euro Area member states. In this article we develop a method to assess the way in which the CSRs have been addressing coordination and offer a systematic analysis of the way they have been formulated. We offer a way to code CSRs as well as one to analyse progress evaluations. Furthermore, we seek to use our results to address one of the reoccurring questions in the literature: whether the EU is pursuing a ‘one size fits all’ approach to economic policy making in the Euro Area? The findings indicate that different types of market economies and welfare states – different ‘varieties of capitalism’ – among the Euro Area members obtain different recommendations regarding different policy areas
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Measuring Economic Reform Recommendations under the European Semester: ‘One Size Fits All’ or Tailoring to Member State
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... In addition, this trend continued after the Juncker Commission, during which 'inclusive social and employment policy objectives figured even more prominently' in the AGS, and a stable proportion of CSRs continued to focus on social policy (Zeitlin and Vanhercke 2018: 163-164). Indeed, employment and wage policies are equally frequently addressed in CSRs and constitute the primary focus of the reforms promoted during the European Semester, just like budgetary policies (D'Erman, Haas, Schulz, et al. 2019). ...
... It seems that the disagreement over 'socialisation' arises partly from taking a macro (for example the overarching structure of the European Semester) or a micro (for example the CSRs, the actors) perspective. Studies with a macro perspective tend to find limited socialisation (for example de la Porte and Heins 2015; Dawson 2018;Copeland and Daly 2015), while research with a micro perspective is more likely to see a gradual development of socialisation (for example Zeitlin and Vanhercke 2018;2014;D'Erman, Haas, Schulz, et al. 2019;Bekker 2014), or at least to take a more balanced view (for example Haas, D'Erman, Schulz, et al. 2020). Moreover, some studies focus on output socialisation (for example Haas, D'Erman, Schulz, et al. 2020;D'Erman, Haas, Schulz, et al. 2019;Bekker 2014;Azzopardi-Muscat, Clemens, Stoner, et al. 2015); some studies primarily investigate procedural socialisation (for example de la Porte and Heins 2015; Copeland and Daly 2015); while other studies look into both of them (for example Zeitlin and Vanhercke 2018;2014;Copeland and Daly 2018). ...
... Studies with a macro perspective tend to find limited socialisation (for example de la Porte and Heins 2015; Dawson 2018;Copeland and Daly 2015), while research with a micro perspective is more likely to see a gradual development of socialisation (for example Zeitlin and Vanhercke 2018;2014;D'Erman, Haas, Schulz, et al. 2019;Bekker 2014), or at least to take a more balanced view (for example Haas, D'Erman, Schulz, et al. 2020). Moreover, some studies focus on output socialisation (for example Haas, D'Erman, Schulz, et al. 2020;D'Erman, Haas, Schulz, et al. 2019;Bekker 2014;Azzopardi-Muscat, Clemens, Stoner, et al. 2015); some studies primarily investigate procedural socialisation (for example de la Porte and Heins 2015; Copeland and Daly 2015); while other studies look into both of them (for example Zeitlin and Vanhercke 2018;2014;Copeland and Daly 2018). An investigation of both output and procedural socialisation seems to produce a more nuanced view. ...
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... Ultimately, our approach provides a detailed picture of where the EU is trying to steer its members in pensions policy and which of the three objectives is most strongly emphasised. As D'Erman et al. (2019) have pointed out, the lack of clarity behind the recommendations has made it difficult to understand the direction of the reforms that the EU promotes. In general, the same criticism applies to the long-term strategies and real priorities of EU institutions (Casagrande and Dallago, 2022). ...
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... The Commission also relied on the 'European Semester'a tool to foster economic and fiscal policy coordination within the EU by issuing country-specific recommendations (CSRs)to increase compliance with the fiscal rules. D'Erman et al. (2019) show that the share of CSRs related to budgetary policies remained more or less stable from 2012 to 2017 despite the reform of the fiscal rules. They demonstrate that the complexity of the individual CSRs has not declined over time because the recommendations often addressed several policy areas simultaneously, which led to a decline in the implementation rate. ...
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References
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This book provides the first in-depth empirical study of the European Parliament's powers of scrutiny of the executive in the European Union (EU) political system, focusing on the politically salient field of the Economic and Monetary Union. The expansion of executive decision-making during the euro crisis was accompanied by an empowerment of the European Parliament through legislative oversight. This book examines how the European Parliament exercises that oversight on a day-to-day basis and thus contributes to political accountability at the EU level. Building on an innovative analytical framework for the study of parliamentary questions and answers, Adina Akbik sheds light on the European Parliament's possibilities and limitations to hold EU executive bodies accountable more generally. Case studies cover the period 2012 to 2019 and include the European Central Bank in banking supervision, the European Commission, the Eurogroup, and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. This title is Open Access.
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