Is there a Need for a Fourth EU Pillar?
Abstract
SYMPOSIUM ON THE SWEDISH 2001 EU COUNCIL PRESIDENCY Is There a Need for a Fourth EU Pillar? MAGNUS EKENGREN Introduction In his contribution to this symposium, Elgstrm concludes that the Swedish Presidency was successful in its strong task orientation but lacked a vision for the future of Europe. In the area of EU employment and social policy cooperation, this tension is more complex. On the one hand, the Swedish government is one of the strongest advocates of the vision of a `Social Europe', including new tasks for the Union, such as employment, education systems, research and social cohesion. It has also been innovative regarding methods by successfully proposing the Title on Employment in the Amsterdam Treaty, developed into the `open method of coordination' (OMC), as a model for this cooperation. On the other hand, the govern- ment has not linked the new tasks and the medium-term consequences of the `new and open method' to questions affecting the Union's future, such as subsidiarity, the division of competencies between the Union and the member states, EU democracy and pillar construction. This tension between deepening the EU (in the sense of adding new areas of coopera- tion) but not with regard