Abstract
In response to the crisis of the Eurozone, the European Union has re-organized policy coordination with the European Semester. Today the Semester is the core EU fiscal and economic coordination mechanism. Its presence raises discussions over its capacity to foster knowledge, due to its structure and mechanisms of policy learning. More generally, since its launch in 2011, the European Semester has kindled a vibrant debate on its effects on national policy-making and in particular, whether it could promote policy learning among national actors. By analysing the case of pension reforms in Belgium, the author identifies the specific outcomes of the European Semester’s mechanisms of influence. We find learning effects at work in the European Semester, and qualify the conventional proposition that the strength of European Union policy coordination lies only in its coercive power.
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Acknowledgements
The current research is related to the subject of my doctoral thesis, which focuses more broadly on the effects of the European Semester on Belgium’s social and employment policies. Previous versions of the chapter were presented at the IPSA-AISP 24th World Congress of Political Science in Poznán, Poland, 23–28 July 2016 and at the Workshop ‘Mechanisms and Outcomes of Learning in Public Policy’ in London, 19–20 January 2016. I am grateful to all the participants as well as to the organizers of the workshop for their valuable comments.
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Appendix 4.1: List of Interviews
Appendix 4.1: List of Interviews
Interviewee code | Official capacity | Organisation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
BE01-CAB | Senior Policy Official Cabinet of the Pensions Minister | Belgian Government | May 2016 |
COM01 | Official Representation | European Commission | May 2016 |
COM02 | Senior Official DG ECFIN | European Commission | May 2016 |
COM03 | Senior Official DG EMPL | European Commission | May 2016 |
N-VA01 | Representative of the N-VA | Â | July 2016 |
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Louvaris Fasois, C. (2018). Mechanisms of Policy Learning in the European Semester: Pension Reforms in Belgium. In: Dunlop, C., Radaelli, C., Trein, P. (eds) Learning in Public Policy. International Series on Public Policy . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76210-4_4
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