Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel GlÃ¶ckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

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concentrate on the size of the cake, rather than how it is sliced. But such a stance overlooks the many ways in which a well thought-out social policy complements and supports a growth strategy. Equally, social systems that are out-dated or afflicted by perverse incentives need to be modernised. The flexicurity approach goes some way towards reconciling these imperatives, but needs to be elaborated. In particular, it is not clear that flexicurity yet goes far enough in taking account of inequality and pathways out of social inclusion other than through employment. Nor is it evident that the approach has convincing solutions for coping with the recession and its aftermath, although it is instructive that leading advocates of flexicurity stress that the flexibility and security elements should not be seen as in conflict. 8 Plainly, social policies that boost the employment rate by activating more people and encouraging active ageing, while reducing the budgetary cost of social protection, are not just progressive, but also good economics. Increases in “green jobs” also show that the presumed trade-off between jobs and environmental or social improvements may well be a false one. Putting these different strands together suggests the need for a smart growth strategy in which a qualitatively different model of development is pursued. This should recognise that, while the three points of the “Lisbon/ Sustainable Development” triangle (comprising competitiveness, social inclusion and a sustainable environment) remain valid, what matters just as much is the manner in which they are combined. Different configurations of policy and strategic investment decisions in the coming years can lead to very different outcomes that, over a longer-term horizon, result in a radically changed economic model. Economies will differ in the means available to them to abate carbon emissions, but the strategic imperative should nevertheless be part of a smart growth strategy. Plainly, investment in human capital or in new technologies will be costly, although a persuasive case can be made that the cost of action will generally be lower than the cost of doing nothing. 9 Adaptation to a sustainable growth trajectory also raises awkward questions, not least if rising energy prices impose disproportionate costs on poorer groups. Seen from this angle, the politics of climate change is also a politics of (in) equality. 10 Manifestly a coherent approach at EU level is needed, embracing not just policies directly aimed at curbing emissions, but also setting the tone for what the EU budget funds, the next wave of structural reforms and the articulation of an EU response to globalisation. Nor can a low-carbon agenda be seen purely as an economic problem, because it both requires the building of a social consensus and has social effects that have to be 158 After the crisis: A new socio-economic settlement for the EU
managed. Even if the world’s leaders start to act as decisively over climate change as they did in the autumn of 2008 over the financial crisis, the sheer timescales involved in dealing with the underlying causes of global warming mean that temperatures will rise before they can be stabilised. The effects may be unpredictable, albeit relatively moderate and short-lived, but they will not be negligible and will tend to hit those least able to cope. The post-Lisbon strategy As the original 2010 deadline for the Lisbon strategy draws close and the new Commission and Parliament start to grapple with over-flowing intrays, a critical question will be what the underlying narrative for post- Lisbon economic governance should be. Clearly, the intensity of the economic crisis radically alters the demands on policy-makers and it may be that several years of a post-Lisbon strategy will have to be devoted to under-pinning the recovery rather than the forward looking goals that were the priorities over the last decade, that is fostering the knowledge economy and equipping Europe to prosper under globalisation. However, even before the recession struck, it had become apparent that sustainability would be to the fore and that much more emphasis would be needed on the quality of growth. It should be recalled, in this regard, that the adjective “sustainable” is prominent in the second half of the famous sentence from the Lisbon 2000 European Council articulating the strategic goal, which states that the EU should be “… capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion”. One clear route is offered by Laurent Cohen-Tanugi who argues that the EU has to go beyond simply adapting to globalisation (arguably the thrust of the Lisbon strategy since 2005) to try to shape globalisation in a manner consistent with EU aims. 11 He therefore advocates a division between a reinforced (“Lisbon-plus”) approach inside the EU, to be largely in the hands of member states, accompanied by an external dimension that would be largely at supranational level The latter would involve common policies, building on these already settled, but adding new ones to cover energy, the environment, migration, development aid and diplomacy. He argues that this dual approach is needed because Europe now faces a new phase in its development that will require a paradigm shift. The social pillar of sustainable development also warrants fresh thinking and must be expected to loom larger as a result of the 2008/9 recession. In all probability, the post Lisbon strategy will have to strike a (possibly uncomfortable) balance between longer-term objectives and short- to medium-term responses to the recession and its aftermath. Avoiding a Chapter 11 – Iain Begg 159
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Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckl
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Published in 2009 by Policy Network
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4 After the crisis: A new socio-eco
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6 After the crisis: A new socio-eco
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Simona Milio is associate director
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Chapter 10 Simona Milio ...........
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Before the crash: the EU as a parti
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liberalisation. The City of London
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of the Financial Services Action Pl
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confidence and world trade, to whic
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following the ECJ’s controversial
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signals are in place to promote a n
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need to be constructed to create ac
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or indeed re-impose, what they rega
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Markets with rules The overall conc
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30 After the crisis: A new socio-ec
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Target financial stability The EMU
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Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemb
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mortgage banks and the insurance se
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financial market rules. The ESFS au
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prudential regulation - though only
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initiatives vis-à-vis ratings agen
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Even if membership in a monetary un
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emained relatively contained to spe
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The second channel of functional sp
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But even so, the depth and intensit
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governance in the EU and the euro a
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in the EU show, authorities at the
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factors will remain prevalent and b
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centralised decision-maker. Similar
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(GNI), the interests of the member
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terms only very slowly and as a per
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policy proposal asks itself what th
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ensure that a ceiling is put on the
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Reform of EU expenditure Spending 4
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The medium-term financial framework
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unanimity. The need to obtain the c
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therefore, was weakening the Europe
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for the signing of the strict and d
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Since then, member states have name
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in the world monetary system. It al
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a Treaty that not only ignores trad
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Firstly, they should include policy
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emanate from demographic trends. Ho
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Furthermore, the Lisbon agenda may
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Strengthening, if not really crafti
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incentives in the welfare schemes a
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security, yet at a lower cost than
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102 After the crisis: A new socio-e
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asis only in the 1990s, and over th
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in an increasingly global age the
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Page 132 and 133: will be reinforced rather than cont
Page 134 and 135: Where do we come from? The EU agend
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Page 168 and 169: 7 This idea is not new. The 1970 We
Page 170 and 171: 33 Arpaia, Alfonso, Declan Costello
Page 172 and 173: 9 See Garabiol-Furet, M.-D. (2006)
Page 174 and 175: Chapter 11 1 Victor, D.G. (2006)
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Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel GlÃ¶ckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

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