Learning from the national usages of Europe RECWOWE Final Conference Tackling the crisis: is ‘Europe 2020’ enough? Brussels, 16 June 2011 Learning from the national usages of Europe Sophie Jacquot Centre d’études européennes at Sciences Po

WP04. The Europeanization of employment-friendly welfare states Task coordinators: Paolo R. Graziano, Sophie Jacquot, Bruno Palier Edited volume in the RECWOWE Series: Graziano P., Jacquot S., Palier B. (eds), The EU and the Domestic Politics of Welfare State Reforms: Europa Europae, Palgrave, 2011 Special issue of the European Journal of Social Security: Graziano P., Jacquot S., Palier B. (eds), “Letting Europe In. The Domestic Usages of Europe in Reconciliation Policies”, March 2011, vol. 13, n°1

Outline Presentation of the research project (Research questions and perspective, case studies, main findings) The EU and its role in national social reforms - what have we learnt > A double instrumentalization EU level: instrumentalization of social policies to meet economic objectives National level: instrumentalization of the EU and its resources by national actors EU level: negative impact on gender equality and quality of jobs National level: EU resources: useful but not neutral, design and content of these resources is fundamental

Research questions and perspective Can Europe impose welfare reforms? > Is Europe useful in national welfare reforms? How does European integration influence national social policies? Which European resources are used? Who is using Europe? Analyzing the interactions between national and European levels: the usages of Europe Starting from the national level Role of actors as necessary variable of European integration Whether, when, where and how has the EU been mobilized by national actors during the reform process?

Europa Europae Letting Europe In Czech Republic France Germany Greece ‘Employment-friendly’ policies (pensions, social assistance, employment, anti-discrimination) Reconciliation (between paid work and private life) policies Czech Republic France Germany Greece Italy Netherlands Portugal Sweden Turkey United Kingdom Czech Republic France Finland Hungary Italy Portugal Spain Turkey

Main findings 1. What matters in structuring the usages of Europe EU membership Relationship to Europe Gap between European orientations and national model 2. Different WS, different adaptation to the EU Scandinavian WS: limited change and usages but importance of showing compliance with EU rules Anglosaxon WS: limited change and neglect, EU as a target rather than source of influence (uploading to avoid mismatch) Continental WS: shaping the EU policy agenda and using EU to pursue domestically-shaped policy agendas (uploading to promote national model) Southern European WS: significant change in the 90s (EMU, elite and public opinion support), usage of Europe to avoid blame linked to unpopular reforms Central/Eastern European WS: significant change (significant ‘mismatch’), Europe as a legitimating reference Candidate countries WS: significant change, usage of Europe to frame and legitimate national reforms

The EU and its role in national social reforms - What have we learnt? Content: The evolution of EU resources across time Focus on reconcilation between paid work and private life: extension of the range of policy domains (gender equality, equal treatment at work, parental leave, childcare, working time, family care, work organization) diversification of policy instruments (binding and non-binding legal instruments, financial instruments, coordination and cognitive instruments) - policy goals: 1970s-1980s: reconciliation as a consequence of economic integration 1990s: reconciliation as a means of promoting right to equal treatment and opportunities 2000s: reconciliation as a means of promoting employment, activation and economic growth Mapping of change with regard to policy goals, policy domains and policy instruments Question is to understand whether and how the EU has contributed to changing national (reconciliation) regimes: usages = analysing the way EU resources are used at the national level requires first to analyze what kind of resources the EU can provide national actors with. 3 main sequences: reconciliation issues emerged through a spill over interpretation of equal treatment Then acquired greater autonomy, became an equal opportunity policy, developping various instruments around the objectives of improving the work/family balance and the division of labour between women and men Finally, field converted into an economic employment policy aimed at modernising welfare systems and guaranteeingbudgetary sustainability through increases in fertility rates and most importantly female employment rates at the expense of the initial gender equality goal.

2. Process: The EU has contributed to change national WS… not by imposing its views, but by providing resources which national actors could (or not) seize to help them advance their own interest and agenda The EU is mainly a reform initiator or reform supporter of domestic WS reforms (role of cognitive and coordination resources)

A double instrumentalization EU level: intrumentalization of social policies to meet economic objectives From reduction of inequalities and social justice to economic competitiveness: instruments to fight demographic decline, social exclusion, social systems budgetary deficits, inefficient use of human resources, etc. ex. reconciliation policies and women employment rates (see also Knijn and Smit, Jenson, Lewis)

2. National level: instrumentalization of EU resources by national actors EU influential (esp. in “soft” domains) if useful for national actors: set of opportunities, room for manœuvre 4 main types of usages: Legitimating usage: EU as a means to legitimize national reforms Cognitive usage: EU model as a substantive guideline for framing national reforms Positive strategic usage: EU instruments used by national actors to pursue own political agenda Negative usage: EU as a negative reference - misfit and euroscepticism

The importance of new EU social resources European resources need to be useful to domestic actors to be influential. However, this does not mean that these resources are neutral. EU policies orientations have altered the possible meanings and resources that national actors may use in the social domain. They have changed the realms of possibility and they frame for a large part the box of tools and ideas in which national actors can draw. The content and orientations of EU policies is therefore fundamental with regard to the evolution of European social policies > tension between market-supporting and inequality-reducing policies.