Financing social and cohesion policy in an enlarged EU: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose?

Adrian Kay, R. Ackrill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The development of the Open Method of Coordination, agreement on the Lisbon Agenda and EU enlargement offered the prospect of a new and substantial EU social policy agenda. This article considers EU social and cohesion policies in the context of the recent negotiation of the EU budget for 2007—13. We find the Commission's wish to redistribute EU spending in favour of these policy areas and new member states was thwarted by key political features of EU budget making: CAP spending levels which are downwardly sticky; institutional arrangements which provide for budget making as, at best, a zero-sum game; and the preferences of contributor member states in the EU-15 to contain overall spending while preserving their net budget positions. Questions are thus raised as to the ability of the EU to make any progress, from a budgetary perspective, on the social and cohesion policy agenda in an enlarged EU.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)361-374
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of European Social Policy
Volume17
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 29 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • EU social and cohesion policies
  • Financial perspectives
  • EU enlargement
  • Budget constraints

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