EU coordinating competences Hardening norms in European socio-economic governance

This dissertation aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion in EU legal scholarship on the relationship between law and other approaches to governance which coexist and interact with law in the EU legal order. More specifically, it analyzes the exercise of EU coordinating competences as one key instance of governance which differs from law in important ways. What is meant by EU coordinating competences is economic, employment and social policy coordination in the EU as laid down in Article 5 TFEU. The argument advanced in this dissertation is that we can observe a hardening of policy coordination over time in all three policy areas. In other words, the norms adopted through policy coordination processes can no longer be characterized as non-binding (or voluntary) even if they are formally laid down in non-binding legal instruments. More importantly, law has played a crucial role in the hardening of economic, employment and social policy coordination in the EU since the onset of the euro crisis. This finding supports the broader argument advanced in this dissertation that law and other approaches to governance in the EU are characterized by a relationship of mutual transformation.