Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Europe and the politics of capabilities
- Part I Products, territories and economic activity in Europe
- Part 2 Assessing EU procedures and European initiatives
- 8 The European Employment Strategy: from ends to means?
- 9 Regional growth, national context and the European Structural Funds: an empirical appraisal
- 10 Sketching European social dialogue freehand
- 11 The fourth dimension in collective bargaining and social co-operation
- 12 The nature of the open method of co-ordination
- Part 3 What politics of capabilities?
- Appendix 1 EU bibliography
- Appendix 2 Information on EU official documents
- Index
- References
8 - The European Employment Strategy: from ends to means?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction: Europe and the politics of capabilities
- Part I Products, territories and economic activity in Europe
- Part 2 Assessing EU procedures and European initiatives
- 8 The European Employment Strategy: from ends to means?
- 9 Regional growth, national context and the European Structural Funds: an empirical appraisal
- 10 Sketching European social dialogue freehand
- 11 The fourth dimension in collective bargaining and social co-operation
- 12 The nature of the open method of co-ordination
- Part 3 What politics of capabilities?
- Appendix 1 EU bibliography
- Appendix 2 Information on EU official documents
- Index
- References
Summary
Increasing employment cannot be but at the very top of the list of things to do. It is amazing that so much unemployment is so easily tolerated in contemporary Europe.
(Sen 1997: 168)The purpose of economic activity is to increase the well-being of individuals … This proposition might seem anodyne … Yet, the policies that are pursued often turn out to be antithetical to it.
(Stiglitz 2002: 9)Introduction
The greatest achievement of the European Union so far is the creation of the Euro. But Europe is often pictured as a one-eyed man, preoccupied only by economic issues – and forgetful of the social aspects of life. The purpose of the European Employment Strategy (EES) was to counter this criticism by showing that the European Union could actively fight unemployment. Yet, far from counterbalancing the restrictions imposed on growth by stage three of the European Monetary Union (EMU), the EES limits its action to this predefined framework. How is this possible? History can tell us a lot. In fact, the conditions that prevailed when the EES was first elaborated explain why this policy is still largely dominated by the fight against a now disappeared ghost (inflation), when its true enemies (poverty and unemployment) are still alive and kicking. We will successively look at the origins of the EES (section 2), at how it works and how to evaluate it (section 3) and finally, at the future for Europe it could open (section 4).
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- Europe and the Politics of Capabilities , pp. 123 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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