Social Federalism, Subsidiarity and Open Method of Coordination

Abstract

In our paper we attempt to raise a number of questions about the prospects of social federalism in Europe taking into consideration the experiences accumulated by other federal states, as these are presented in the recent scientific literature . We will seek to link these experiences with the evolution of the European social policy as the latter is developed after the adoption of the OMC in the field of employment and social protection. Finally, we will attempt to locate several common issues of future initiatives. It is obvious that the projection of the federalist social experience onto social-political design with the form of OMC that takes place within non-federalist social structures, it appears as an extremely difficult undertaking. For this reason, our main aim is mostly to articulate some questions – not all – and to attempt to provide some preliminary answers.

Keywords: social federalism, European social policy

JEL Classification: I3