Welfare Services and the EU: Harmonising Systems without Legal Harmonisation?

Abstract

The literature has emphasised that the EU has different competences in different policies, and that the competences of the EU in the field of welfare (social and health care) services are relatively limited. First, the article will examine the role and impact of the Open Method of Coordination, namely, how the coordination of these services impacts the standardisation of welfare services. Similarly, the role of EU funds in influencing the welfare policies of EU Member States will be analysed. The rules on the funds of the European Cohesion Policy and ‘soft’ regulations relating to them greatly influence the regional development policies of these countries. The conditions defined by the EU regulations on development funds greatly influence even those Member States’ policies that are primarily defined as national policies. As a result of my research, it should be emphasised that there is no direct legal harmonisation in the field of welfare services. Yet, certain tools still result in the indirect legal harmonisation of laws in these fields, such as the Open Method of Coordination, the cohesion policy of the EU, and especially conditionality within cohesion policy.