FINAL REPORT Contract-No.: HPSE-CT-2001-00045 Project-No.: SERD 2000 00298 Title: EU Governance by self co-ordination? Towards a collective ‘gouvernement économique’ Project coordinator: Jean-Monnet Chair for Political Science, University of Cologne Partners: Principal contractors: Centre d’analyse théorique et de traitement technique des données économiques, (CATT), FR European Institute of Public Administration, (EIPA), NL Stockholm Centre for Organisation Research, (SCORE), SE Trans European Policy Studies Association, (TEPSA), BE Assistant contractors: Groupe d’Etude Politique Européennes, (GEPE), BE Institut für Europäische Politik, (IEP), DE Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IEEI), PT Institute of European Affairs, (IEA), IE Instituto Affari Internazionali, (IAI), IT Österreichisches Institut für Internationale Politik, (ÖIIP), AT The Federal Trust for Education and Research, UK Reference period: 1 September 2001 – 30 July 2004 Starting date: 1 September 2001 Duration: 30 months Project financed within the Key Action Improving the Socio-economic Knowledge Base Govecor – Final Report – HPSE-CT-2001-00045 Final Report EU Governance by self co-ordination? Towards a collective ‘gouvernement économique’ GOVECOR Starting date: September 2001 Duration 30 months Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels Jean Monnet Chair for European Affairs / University of Cologne Research staff at the Chair of the Coordinator: Researchers: Ingo Linsenmann, MA Dr. Andreas Maurer Dr. Christoph Meyer Gaby Umbach, MA Student researcher: Tobias Kunstein Principle contractors: CATT: Prof. Jacques Le Cacheux Florence Touya EIPA: Dr. Ines Hartwig SCORE: Dr. Kerstin Jacobsson Åsa Vifell TEPSA: Prof. Christian Franck (coordinating), Barbara Engelstoft, Olivier Maiscocq, Dorota Pyszna-Nigge Assistant Contractors: For a list of researchers involved on behalf of the Assistant Contractors, see below, chapter 6.1.1. Subcontracter for Website: PoldiNet, www.europa-digital.de: Michael Bornkessel, MA Scientific Officer at the European Commission, DG Research: Dr. Angela Liberatore Contact for project homepage: www.govecor.org Contact details of project coordinator: Jean-Monnet Lehrstuhl Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels Universität zu Köln Institut für Politische Wissenschaft und Europäische Fragen Gottfried-Keller Str. 6 D - 50931 Köln phone: +49-221-940 25 40 (switchboard) fax: +49-221-940 25 42 www.politik.uni-koeln.de/wessels 2 Govecor – Final Report – HPSE-CT-2001-00045 List of Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................................6 1. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................7 2. Background and objectives of the project ......................................................................................25 3. Scientific description of the project results and methodology.........................................................28 3.1. Theoretical Approaches to Changes of Governing Modes.......................................................28 3.1.1 The analytical framework: The Living Constitution of Economic Governance: A Neo-Institutionalist Approach to Theorising Integration ................................................28 3.1.2 To coordinate or not to coordinate: The economic rationale for fiscal policy coordination in the Euro zone........................................................................................38 3.2. Modes of Policy Coordination in Action: Adaptation and Response .......................................44 3.2.1 New Governance Structures in Employment Policy-making? - Taking Stock of the European Employment Strategy ....................................................................................44 3.2.2 The Dismal Record of the Stability and Growth Pact........................................................51 3.2.3 Europeanization Through Policy Coordination? Tracing and Explaining National Adaptation in Member States ........................................................................................58 3.3. Six Years of Policy Coordination: Discerning Trends and Testing Theories............................68 3.3.1 Towards a Communitarisation? Spill-overs between Structural Funds and the European Employment Strategy ....................................................................................68 3.3.2 Towards a Horizontal Fusion of Governing Structures? Coordination of Coordination Processes through the BEPGs........................................................................................72 3.3.3 Towards Deliberative Supranationalism? Analysing the role of committee interaction in soft co-ordination ......................................................................................................77 3.3.4 A ‘Grand Débat Européen’ on Economic Governance? Publicised Discourses as Indicators for the Performance of Policy Coordination Modes .......................................82 4. Conclusions and policy implications .............................................................................................88 4.1 Conclusions: Loose Policy Coordination and the Limits of EU Economic Governance............88 4.1.1 The Evolution of Self-Coordination: The Results of the Intervening Variables .................88 4.1.2 Multi-Level Institutionalism and the Limits of Integrative Forces in Soft Governance ......94 4.1.3 The explanatory capacity of neo-institutionalist approaches .............................................95 4.1.4 Theorising the Consequences of Treaty Amendments.....................................................100 4.2 The Future of Economic Governance after the Convention and Enlargement.........................102 4.2.1 New paths in the Draft Constitutional Treaty? ................................................................ 102 4.2.2 A hybridisation of economic governing modes...............................................................104 5. Dissemination and exploitation of results ....................................................................................106 5.1 Dissemination activities ........................................................................................................106 5.1.1 Conferences...................................................................................................................106 5.1.2 GOVECOR Homepage .................................................................................................. 107 5.1.3 Publications ...................................................................................................................108 5.1.4 Informal dissemination and spin-off...............................................................................108 5.2 Follow-up activities and exploitation intention ......................................................................109 5.2.1 Follow-up activities .......................................................................................................109 5.2.2 Exploitation Intention ....................................................................................................110 6. Acknowledgements and references.............................................................................................. 111 6.1. Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................111 6.1.1 National Rapporteurs .....................................................................................................111 6.1.2 Participants of the Mid-Term and Final Review Meetings ..............................................111 6.2. References ...........................................................................................................................112 3 Govecor – Final Report – HPSE-CT-2001-00045 7. Annexes...................................................................................................................................... 120 7.1. Overview of Project Deliverables......................................................................................... 120 7.2. List of Output: Publicised work and conference presentations .............................................. 125 7.2.1 Publicised work ............................................................................................................. 125 7.2.2 Conference presentations, papers and other contributions............................................... 128 7.3 Figures referred to in chapter 3.3.4........................................................................................ 131 Figures and Tables Figure 2.1: The GOVECOR Work Packages.....................................................................................26 Figure 3.1.1.1: From Legal Provisions to Living Practice: The Line of Argumentation......................31 Table 3.1.1.2: Intervening Variable and Types of Governing Modes .................................................36 Table 3.2.3.1: Standardized Europeanisation Measures Across Policy Coordination Modes...............64 Table 3.2.3.2: Standardized Europeanisation Measures Across Member States..................................66 Table 3.3.4.1: The Responsiveness-Effectiveness Matrix of Europeanisation Outcomes ....................84 Table 4.1.2.1: Overview of Fusion/Fragmentation Trends: Loose Coordination in Action .................93 Table 5.1.2.1: Internet Statistics