Open method of coordination

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The open method of coordination (OMC) is a form of action by the European Union with which it can take political action outside of its legislative powers , which are granted by primary law . The method was first developed in the context of the European Employment Strategy initiatives in the 1990s. In 2003, Art. 137 of the EC Treaty created a legal basis. Since the Treaty of Lisbon , Articles 5 , 6 and 153 of the TFEU have been particularly relevant. Essential instruments of the OMC are non-binding recommendations and guidelines from the Commission to the Member States. The OMC appears alongside the Community method and the intergovernmental method , which are the two most important decision-making forms of the European Union.

Reasons for the development of the OMC

According to the principle of limited individual authorization, the European Union can only issue binding legal acts if the treaties expressly authorize the European Union's organs to do so. If the Commission or the Council needs to intervene in policy areas in which the European Union has no competences, the use of the OMC, which largely dispenses with binding legal acts, is an option.

The OMC was first introduced with the European Commission's 1993 White Paper - Growth, Competitiveness and Employment. At that time there was a political need for the European Communities to take action against the rising unemployment in many Member States. However, there was no legal basis for binding legal acts (especially directives ) of the European Communities in this area. It was therefore decided to take measures without an express legal basis that are not mandatory but only recommendatory for the Member States. In the Amsterdam Treaty, this was subsequently a contractual basis, which is limited to the area of employment policy, created. With the Lisbon Council in March 2000 and that of Gothenburg in June 2001 it was extended to other policy areas. The main focus of their work, however, remained European social policy .

Instruments of the OMC

The European Commission's White Paper on EU Governance defines the OMC as follows: “The open method of coordination is applied on a case-by-case basis. It promotes cooperation, exchanges, best practices and the agreement of common objectives and guidelines between Member States, sometimes supported by Member States' action plans, as in the case of employment and social exclusion. This method is based on regular monitoring of the progress made towards these goals and allows Member States to compare their efforts and learn from each other's experiences. "

It is a soft law that is not directly binding. However, the instruments used can have an indirect effect in the direction of standardizing political practice in the member states. The instruments in detail:

  • Benchmarks: The Commission uses the data collected to check whether the Member States are achieving the objectives set out in the guidelines. There are no sanctions attached to this (soft law), but if a country does not achieve its goals, this is published.
  • Recommendations: On a proposal from the Commission, the Council gives detailed, non-binding recommendations on how the objectives can be achieved. Member States are not obliged to follow these recommendations.
  • Mutual learning: experiences and good practice are exchanged between the nation states. State “A” can learn something from State “B” and vice versa. To this end, the Commission notes what the political practice looks like in the individual Member States. The member states are obliged to report extensively to the Commission.
  • Guidelines: On a proposal from the Commission, the Council of the European Union sets guidelines which the Member States should take into account in their national policies.
  • Statistical comparisons: The Commission collects statistical data from the policy field through Eurostat . For this purpose, specifications are made to the national statistical offices as to which data they have to collect and how to ensure comparability.

Areas of application of the OMC

The open method of coordination is used except in the area of ​​employment policy and the like. a. used in the following areas:

  • in the area of ​​the objectives of the European Social Agenda , which explicitly refers to this method as a Community instrument,
  • Better Regulation (European Council, Lisbon 2000)
  • Education and Training (European Council, Lisbon 2000)
  • Enterprise Policy (European Council, Lisbon 2000)
  • Information Society (European Council, Lisbon 2000)
  • Research and Development (European Council, Lisbon 2000)
  • Social Inclusion (European Council, Stockholm 2001)
  • Environmental Policy (Gothenburg 2001)
  • Health Care / Care for the Elderly (Gothenburg 2001)
  • Migration Policy (Commission Communication, July 2001, as a follow-up to 1999 Tampere European Council decision)
  • Youth Policy (based on a Commission White Paper, November 2001)
  • Pensions (European Council, Laeken 2001)
  • Tourism (Council Resolution, May 2002)

See also

swell

  1. ↑ European Commission: European Government - A White Paper. / * COM / 2001/0428 final. * / In: Official Journal of the European Union . C 287, October 12, 2001, p. 28.

literature

  • Nada Bodiroga-Vukobrat, Gerald G. Sander , Sanja Barić (eds.): Open method of coordination in the European Union. = Open Method of Coordination in the European Union (= publications on social, environmental and health law. Vol. 1). Kovač, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8300-5220-3 .
  • Björn Hacker: The “liberal” European social model. Pension reforms in the EU and the open method of coordination (= publications on European labor and social policy. Vol. 6). Nomos, Baden-Baden 2010, ISBN 978-3-8329-5904-3 (also: Osnabrück, University, dissertation, 2010).

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