Documents Agostini, Chiara 7 results

"Structural reforms are increasingly at the core of the European and national agenda. But what are they? And what are the main factors shaping their content? This analysis of the structural reforms adopted between 2008 and 2015 in five European Union (EU) countries – the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Italy – addresses these two questions.



Adopting a clear definition of structural reforms, the book proposes a new typology of structural reform strategies by examining developments in five policy areas and classifying them according to whether the focus is on social protection and/or investment. An analysis of these five countries shows how a combination of EU constraints and opportunities, domestic path dependency and political dynamics has resulted in different structural reform trends; while some countries have experienced an overall devaluation in social standards (e.g. Ireland), others have pursued more mixed strategies. What is more, there have been different phases of structural reform patterns. After a first period of anticyclical measures, austerity dominated between 2011 and 2013. In more recent years, many countries have followed a more pro-growth strategy.



The book provides evidence that the EU influenced structural reforms but lacked a coherent agenda to support growth. In such a context, different countries implemented different reform strategies that reflected their (partly) diverging socio-economic models."

"In recent decades the European Union (EU) has put increased emphasis on education and training as a strategic area able to contribute to economic development and a more inclusive society. Soft governance has contributed to progress in attempts to coordinate national policies and institutions. However, national performances and trends are still far from the targets set by the EU. To explain this contradiction between EU ambitions and its limited influence on national performance, we look at the policy content of EU economic and social governance. The inconsistency between short-term fiscal consolidation and longterm social investment seems to be one of the sources of the contradiction Moreover, this inconsistency has become more acute since the ‘Great Recession'. If the EU wishes to make progress in this area, a more coherent set of incentives favouring long-term investments has to be implemented (through revision of the stability rules and/or using the EU structural funds to help Member States invest in this area). "