Activation Policies at the EU Level: A Workfarist Turn?

Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that the European Employment Strategy (EES) has been increasingly influenced by a punitive approach towards the unemployed. This proposition challenges the thrust of the literature, which posits that the EU promotes a distinctively ‘soft’ touch towards the unemployed and stays clear of the workfarist approach which characterises US welfare policies since 1996 (Hemerijck, 2002; Wincott, 2003a). Evidence shows that the advocates of the social dimension at the Lisbon summit in 2000 are loosing ground both within the European Commission and within the European Council, for four reasons. First, unemployment rose in the EU 15, from 7.5 per cent in 2001 to 8.2 per cent in 2003, thus casting serious doubts on the capacity of the EU to reach the employment target rate of 67 per cent by 2005 (Kok et al., 2003). Second, the advocates of neo-liberal policies gained renewed political influence to the detriment of the supporters of the social inclusion approach. Third, centre-left parties were affected by a series of electoral defeats, especially in France, Denmark and the Netherlands. This swing to the right meant that the advocates of ‘capitalism with a human face’ became extremely marginalised at the EU level, as the neo-liberal stance of the Barroso Commission made it clear.