EU governance on ageing: Older, wider and more influential than the OMCs

Nation states keep a firm grip on old age policies; they may be considered among the least likely issues to be dealt with at the supranational level. Yet, a number of community policies directly and indirectly exert influence on national old age policies. While the political science literature primarily focuses on the Open Method of Coordination on pensions, the chapter shows that these instruments are older, wider and more influential. Employing a policy analysis perspective, the chapter asks: When and how did these instruments develop? What are their (potential) effects? On this basis it is shown that the governance capacity of soft steering instruments, seeking to trigger reforms in the area of pensions, is typically overvalued. In contrast we tend to underestimate how much the EU forms national room to manoeuvre on ageing and old age security through legislative instruments establishing individual rights for equal treatment or through the free movement of capital and persons. The analysis draws on a number of case studies on different policy instruments and is based on 26 interviews, and primary and secondary document analysis.