Stefano Sacchi

Il metodo aperto di coordinamento. Origini, ragioni e prospettive del coordinamento delle politiche sociali

214

Gennaio-Aprile 2007

Anno LXXII    n. 1

Summary - With the coming of the post-industrial economy, European governments happen to face new social risks against the backcloth of progressively reduced intervention capacities, also as a consequence of the integration process itself. The demand for a European social dimension as a counterweight to the increasingly advanced economic integration is however likely to be either unmet, or satisfied through joint initiatives, which do not impinge upon member states’ sovereignty in social matters. A consensus has thus emerged that member states’ domestic social policies could benefit from their European-level co-ordination, steered by EU institutions (Commission, Council, European Council) through the identification of common goals which each member state should implement in the definition of its policies. The tool through which European institutions have tried, since the mid-1990s, to promote the co-ordination of member states’ social policies is the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC). This paper aims to analyze systematically the functional and political drivers which have led to the adoption of the OMC in the social field, and in the field of employment and social inclusion policies in particular. After tracing the genesis of these two applications of the OMC, the paper reviews the available empirical evidence on the effects of the Method and proposes some critical reflections on the importance of the OMC for EU social governance at the beginning of the millennium.