Policy Briefing: Boosting Social Europe in challenging times

Narrow focus on competitiveness could be regressive from a social and environmental standpoint

The prevailing discourse at the beginning of the new EU legislature creates a narrow focus on competitiveness and the securisation of economic policy in ways which could be regressive from a social and environmental standpoint. The understanding of competitiveness defined in terms of growth rates and cost-competitiveness ignores the territorial, social and environmental dimension of the economy.

In a new briefing for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Professor Amandine Crespy suggests three complementary directions to maintain and intensify political work geared towards progressive goals:

1. At the ideational level, a narrative must be forged and strengthened which questions the current narrow understanding of competitiveness. This narrative would make the European economic model – with a strong territorial, social and environmental dimension – the cornerstone of prosperity.
2. At the institutional level, a push is needed to strengthen, democratise and green the EU’s governance. In the European Semester the procedures in place for social and employment policies remain underdeveloped and less stringent than those for fiscal and economic matters. It is important to make sure that the identification of risks to upward social convergence leads to the adoption of a related recommendation.
3. At the policy level, new instruments that strengthen the European eco-social economic model must be adopted. In this context, the negotiations around the next EU long-term budget are an opportunity to preserve and re-direct expenditure. This can be done in three ways: First, reshuffling the EU funds to increase support to eco-social policies. Second, by applying eco-social conditionalities – a measure which conditions the receipt of public money to comply with standards - across all EU funds. And third, increasing resources feeding into the EU budget, which can strengthen the eco-social economic model of the EU.

Read the analysis here: Boosting social Europe in challenging times - Pathways to boost the European eco-social model at the start of the new EU legislature by Amandine Crespy.