The open method of co-ordination: Some remarks regarding old-age security within an enlarged European Union

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5. Concluding remarks

As pointed out in the historical review, harmonisation of social security has been an obvious goal
in the past. During the European integration this goal has changed to convergence. Now, the OMC
represents a new form of regulation on the European level. It is softer than the classical legislative
approach, e.g. due to regulations and directives, but it is more than a simple non-binding recom-
mendation or political declaration. The key ingredient of the OMC approach is the use of a de-
centralised method of co-ordination in which various groupings of different interests play an ac-
tive role. In the area of old-age security The different actors can be classified into economically
and socially orientated actors. But tensions between them regarding the direction of old-age secu-
rity reforms still hinder the creation of a clear-cut European vision in this area: one group is more
interested in the long-term financial sustainability of old-age security systems and its possible
impact on public finances. In contrast to that, the other group focuses on maintaining people’s
trust in their national old-age security systems by ensuring that they meet their social functions of
providing safe and adequate old-age security. In addition to these approaches, the European
Commission combines the objective of social and economic visions. The result is a mix of these
two, although the economic vision dominates at the moment. Nevertheless, an essential element of
the OMC is the need to agree on a range of quantitative and qualitative indicators. These are
meant to assess the current system of each member state and its progress with the common strat-
egy and to exchange good practice among member states after peer-review. But, concepts that are
satisfying all stakeholders are not developed yet, so that the debate on indicators and benchmarks
is still an ongoing process. The last point inspected in this paper concerns the enlargement proc-
ess. As pointed out, the candidate countries are not involved in the OMC process at all. So far,
they do not even have an observer-status and consequently no influence on this process. There-
fore, the EU might invite candidate countries for an active participation in the OMC to voice their
opinions and to define their positions in this area even before joining the EU.

However, the direct as well as indirect effects of the OMC are yet unknown. It is still an open
question whether the OMC will have any consequences at all, and if so, what will they be: Will
the OMC reinforce the process of convergence or even of harmonisation; and what kind of con-
crete reforms will follow in the area of old-age security due to the OMC? Furthermore, it can not
be foreseen yet whether the OMC process or the implemented reforms regarding old-age security
have further implications on labour markets, capital markets or markets for goods and services.
Finally, it is still unknown, whether there will be any effects on the level and distribution of in-
come, on saving, investment and consumption or other macroeconomic indicators. These impor-
tant issues and crucial connections between different policy areas are not part of the current dis-
cussions and analyses yet. However, as you can see, the actors are struggling to define a common
European line in old-age security policy. In sum, questions of competence and power of the actors
as well as questions of the best old-age security concept are dominating their activities.

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