The Open Methods of Coordination as Amplifier for EU Soft Law. The case of EU Youth Policy

The legally non-binding nature of the EU’s Open Method of Coordination (OMC) has sparked a lively scholarly debate that includes, amongst other things, research about its function and effectiveness in conjunction with hard law and the integration capacity created by different governance structures (hybridity). This paper contributes to this debate via an analysis of EU integration within the field of Youth Policy. Contrary to existing research that examines hybrid structures in which the OMC interacts with hard law, EU Youth Policy has developed a hybrid structure in which the OMC mainly interacts with soft law. Our conclusion is that the developed hybrid structure has resulted in an incremental and coherent EU Youth Policy in which the OMC plays a crucial role.