Is there a Need for a Fourth EU Pillar?
| Author | MAGNUS EKENGREN |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836702037002981 |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Is There a Need for a Fourth EU
Pillar?
MAGNUS EKENGREN
Introduction
In his contribution to this symposium, Elgström concludes that the Swedish
Presidency was successful in its strong task orientation but lacked a vision
for the future of Europe. In the area of EU employment and social policy
cooperation, this tension is more complex. On the one hand, the Swedish
government is one of the strongest advocates of the vision of a ‘Social
Europe’, including new tasks for the Union,such as employment, education
systems, research and social cohesion.It has also been innovative regarding
methods by successfully proposing the Title on Employment in the
Amsterdam Treaty, developed into the ‘open method of coordination’
(OMC), as a model for this cooperation. On the other hand, the govern-
ment has not linked the new tasks and the medium-term consequences of
the ‘new and open method’ to questions affecting the Union’s future,such
as subsidiarity, the division of competencies between the Union and the
member states, EU democracy and pillar construction. This tension
between deepening the EU (in the sense of adding new areas of coopera-
tion) but not with regard to institutional adaptation was clearly expressed
during the Presidency.
New Areas
The European Council in Lisbon, in Spring 2000, agreed to use an ‘open
method of coordination’ in order ‘to strengthen employment, economic
reform and social cohesion as part of a knowledge-based economy’. The
main purpose of the Stockholm European Council in March 2001 was to
‘follow up’ this meeting. It constituted the first Annual Spring Meeting
dealing with economic and social questions, and its theme was to create
more and better jobs, speeding up economic reforms, modernizing the
European social model and exploiting new technology.
A new objective for employment was set for those over the age of 55 in
the Union: at least 50% should be employed by 2010 (compared to 38%
employed today). The Presidency successfully emphasized the importance
of increased educational measures to achieve full employment (for
Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of the Nordic International Studies Association
Vol.37(2): 199–205. Copyright ©2002 NISA
Sage Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)
0010-8367[200206]37:2;199–205;023981
SYMPOSIUM ON THE SWEDISH 2001 EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY
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