Legitimacy

Abstract

The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) is a new governance method in EU social policy and involves a particular way of political steering. Therefore an evaluation of the OMC should not only address the OMC’s potential of achieving its social policy objectives and ‘strengthening social Europe’ but also its democratic quality and legitimacy. The EU claims that the OMC is legitimate because it is coherent with the principle of subsidiarity. The OMC also aims to enhance the democratic quality of EU policy-making processes through encouraging the participation of non-governmental and regional actors. The OMC’s legitimacy and democratic quality is not only discussed in EU documents but these aspects have also been an important issue in the academic OMC literature (e.g. De la Porte and Nanz 2004; Eberlein and Kerwer 2004; Smismans 2005; Zeitlin 2005b).