European Commission Initiatives to Promote Social Concern on the Market: a Counterbalance to Fiscal Discipline?

The aim of this article is to analyse the significance of recent European Commission initiatives in the face of evidence of non-compliance with the social objectives targeted in the 2020 Strategy. In the midst of the ongoing debate regarding austerity and growth, we stress the need to further the EU trend toward differentiated growth-friendly fiscal consolidation. Given that "conditionality" is a new keystone of economic governance and cohesion policy, the difficulties that the Member States encounter and the diversity of their social protections give a new meaning to the European coordination policies that are intended to promote social cohesion. By analysing EU proposals and official documents, we will show how the Commission's initiatives have introduced diverse elements that are intended to address the social consequences of the economic crisis and reveal how new ideas of growth and new ways to deepen the internal market have been promoted. We will also determine whether we can consider these ideas to be a valid response to current social challenges.