IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jcmkts/v60y2022i1p101-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of the European Semester: Case Study Analysis and Lessons for its Post‐Pandemic Transformation

Author

Listed:
  • David Bokhorst

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how the European Semester has influenced structural reforms in member states. It does so by analysing the interaction between the Commission and the national bureaucratic and political levels. The paper presents two process‐tracing exercises with a focus on those actors that directly worked with the CSRs to assess the political dynamics underpinning the CSR implementation process. First, it examines the more nuanced and indirect effects the Semester had on the liberalization of professions in Italy. Second, it shows how the debate on wage indexation in Belgium turned around over the years and how the Semester was an important factor in introducing reform. The analysis shows the influence of the Semester in terms of issue salience and agenda setting, but it also shows how the Commission can exert real pressure. This pressure may in turn affect the EU's perceived legitimacy, which holds lessons for the Semester's post‐pandemic transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • David Bokhorst, 2022. "The Influence of the European Semester: Case Study Analysis and Lessons for its Post‐Pandemic Transformation," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 101-117, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:60:y:2022:i:1:p:101-117
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13266
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13266
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jcms.13266?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:ucp:bkecon:9789053566510 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8391 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Valerie J. D'Erman & Daniel F. Schulz & Amy Verdun & Dennis Zagermann, 2022. "The European Semester in the North and in the South: Domestic Politics and the Salience of EU‐Induced Wage Reform in Different Growth Models," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 21-39, January.
    4. Charles Wyplosz, 2013. "The Eurozone Crisis and the Competitiveness Legend," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 12(3), pages 63-81, Fall.
    5. Konstantinos Efstathiou & Guntram B. Wolff, 2018. "Is the European Semester effective and useful?," Policy Contributions 26281, Bruegel.
    6. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," Post-Print hal-01019642, HAL.
    7. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8391 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Bart Vanhercke & Amy Verdun, 2022. "The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 204-223, January.
    9. Ben Crum, 2013. "Saving the Euro at the Cost of Democracy?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 614-630, July.
    10. Jacquot, Sophie & Woll, Cornelia, 2003. "Usage of European Integration Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 7, December.
    11. Claire A. Dunlop & Claudio M. Radaelli, 2016. "Policy learning in the Eurozone crisis: modes, power and functionality," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 49(2), pages 107-124, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valerie J. D'Erman & Daniel F. Schulz & Amy Verdun & Dennis Zagermann, 2022. "The European Semester in the North and in the South: Domestic Politics and the Salience of EU‐Induced Wage Reform in Different Growth Models," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 21-39, January.
    2. Annette Bongardt & Francisco Torres, 2022. "The European Green Deal: More than an Exit Strategy to the Pandemic Crisis, a Building Block of a Sustainable European Economic Model," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 170-185, January.
    3. Reinout Arthur van der Veer, 2022. "Walking the Tightrope: Politicization and the Commission's Enforcement of the SGP," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 81-100, January.
    4. Valerie D'Erman & Amy Verdun, 2022. "An Introduction: “Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and Domestic Politics: Policy Coordination in the EU from the European Semester to the Covid‐19 Crisis”," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 3-20, January.
    5. Robert Csehi & Daniel F. Schulz, 2022. "The EU's New Economic Governance Framework and Budgetary Decision‐Making in the Member States: Boon or Bane for Throughput Legitimacy?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 118-135, January.
    6. Nicole Baerg & Mark Hallerberg, 2022. "Council Checks of the Commission under the European Semester: Does Member State Power and Euroscepticism Still Matter?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 58-80, January.
    7. Bart Vanhercke & Amy Verdun, 2022. "The European Semester as Goldilocks: Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and the Recovery and Resilience Facility," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 204-223, January.
    8. Golpe, Antonio A. & Sánchez-Fuentes, A. Jesus & Vides, José Carlos, 2023. "Fiscal sustainability, monetary policy and economic growth in the Euro Area: In search of the ultimate causal path," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1026-1045.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schreiber, Tim, 2017. "Post-crisis economic policy coordination in the EU: The European Semester as trigger for the Europeanization of national policies? An analysis of the European Semester's impact on French environmental," PIPE - Papers on International Political Economy 29/2017, Free University Berlin, Center for International Political Economy.
    2. Anna Michalski, 2013. "Europeanization of National Foreign Policy: The Case of Denmark's and Sweden's Relations with China," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 884-900, September.
    3. Cornelia Woll & Sophie Jacquot, 2010. "Using Europe: Strategic Action in Multi-Level Politics," Post-Print hal-01023857, HAL.
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m1ga289 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Annette Bongardt & Francisco Torres, 2022. "The European Green Deal: More than an Exit Strategy to the Pandemic Crisis, a Building Block of a Sustainable European Economic Model," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 170-185, January.
    6. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m1ga289 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m1ga289 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Alberto Asquer, 2009. "On the many Ways Europeanization Matters: The Implementation of the Water Reform in Italy (1994-2006)," CESifo Working Paper Series 2869, CESifo.
    9. Kirsi Eräranta & Johanna Kantola, 2016. "The Europeanization of Nordic Gender Equality: A Foucauldian Analysis of Reconciling Work and Family in Finland," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 414-430, July.
    10. Tanja A. Börzel & Digdem Soyaltin, 2012. "Europeanization in Turkey - Stretching a Concept to its Limits?," KFG Working Papers p0036, Free University Berlin.
    11. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/f5vtl5h9a73d5ls976m1ga289 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Adrien Thomas, 2016. "Degrees of Inclusion: Free Movement of Labour and the Unionization of Migrant Workers in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 408-425, March.
    13. Katharina Zimmermann, 2016. "Local Responses to the European Social Fund: A Cross-City Comparison of Usage and Change," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 1465-1484, November.
    14. Valerie D'Erman & Amy Verdun, 2022. "An Introduction: “Macroeconomic Policy Coordination and Domestic Politics: Policy Coordination in the EU from the European Semester to the Covid‐19 Crisis”," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 3-20, January.
    15. Esther Ademmer, 2011. "You Make Us Do What We Want! The Usage of External Actors and Policy Conditionality in the European Neighborhood," KFG Working Papers p0032, Free University Berlin.
    16. Reto Bürgisser & Donato Di Carlo, 2023. "Blessing or Curse? The Rise of Tourism‐Led Growth in Europe's Southern Periphery," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 236-258, January.
    17. Lucian Croitoru, 2018. "How Countries’ Different Attitudes towards Inflation can thwart the European Dream," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 21(70), pages 2-41, December.
    18. Mario Alloza & Javier Andrés & Pablo Burriel & Iván Kataryniuk & Javier J. Pérez & Juan Luis Vega, 2021. "La reforma del marco de gobernanza de la política fiscal de la Unión Europea en un nuevo entorno macroeconómico," Occasional Papers 2121, Banco de España.
    19. Alice Nicole Sindzingre, 2015. "‘Policy Externalisation’ Inherent Failure: International Financial Institutions’ Conditionality in Developing Countries," Post-Print hal-01668363, HAL.
    20. Florian Morvillier, 2018. "On the impact of the launch of the euro on EMU macroeconomic vulnerability," EconomiX Working Papers 2018-51, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    21. Shawn Donnelly, 2023. "Clocks, Caps, Compartments, and Carve‐Outs: Creating Federal Fiscal Capacity Despite Strong Veto Powers," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 92-101.
    22. Beetz, Jan Pieter & Rossi, Enzo, 2015. "EU legitimacy in a realist key," Discussion Papers, Center for Global Constitutionalism SP IV 2015-802, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    23. Unger, Robert, 2017. "Asymmetric credit growth and current account imbalances in the euro area," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PB), pages 435-451.
    24. Hachula, Michael & Piffer, Michele & Rieth, Malte, 2020. "Unconventional Monetary Policy, Fiscal Side Effects and Euro Area (Im)balances," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 202-231.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:60:y:2022:i:1:p:101-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-9886 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.