The European Commission’s ‘Social’ Agenda: an analysis of changing policy attention of the European Commission 1995 – 2012

At midst of the deepest financial crisis Europe has ever witnessed, the empirical question whether European commission’s agenda has shifted from social to economic seems to be valid. This article provides an empirical account of the changes in policy attention of the European Commission between 1995 and 2012. By analyzing the work programmes of the European Commission, this article analyses how social is the European Commission agenda in terms of focus and how has the agenda developed since 1995. By looking at the changes in the partisanship of the Commission and specific events this paper tries to explain these changes. The content analysis suggests two peaks in interest in social policy: in 1996-1998 and 2000. From 2001, the attention for social policy has weakened, with the exception of work programme for 2010. However, we find no significant relation between political position of the commissioners and European Parliament and attention for social policy. Neither do we find evidence for decreased attention due to the economic crisis.