From the onset of the Eurozone crisis EU institutional actors have faced three imperatives: necessity, efficacy and legitimacy. Notwithstanding the political will of European political actors to save the Euro and prevent disintegration, back in 2010 it was unclear which response would be chosen and whether it would prove appropriate, be it in terms of process or policy. European decision making has been reshaped as the relations between economic, social and budgetary policies have been altered. Consequently, they have changed the “old” European modes of governance, ranging from supranational decision-making, to softer forms of governance coordination such as the open method of coordination, by way of the co-decision mechanism of the community method. Structural reforms and instruments developed in response to the Eurozone crisis are also bound to have a profound impact on EU Member States. The aim of this panel is to elucidate how the EU governance architecture been transformed and how new modes of governance have been legitimized in terms of what to do, who should do it and how (which rules). Empirically, this panel welcomes contributions focused on the European Semester. Overall, two interrelated questions are at the center of this panel. Which are the specificities of the European Semester as a governance framework and how has its functioning changed since 2011, and why? What are the implications at the policy level, especially in the realm of structural reforms and social policy in particular?