Since it first inception in 2011, the European Semester has serve to tighten the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, to coordinate efforts to stimulate growth and tackle unemployment, and to prescribe ways for the Member States to contain the costs associated with the Welfare State. In the face of persisting concerning economic and social disequilibria, both between and within the various EU member countries, the European Semester has been questioned for its lack of input legitimacy – in terms of people’s demands - , of its output legitimacy – in terms of its capacity to deliver effective policy results – and of its throughput legitimacy – i.e. the accountability in the way it is operated. As a consequence, changes have been introduced in the way in which this meta-coordination process is working in practice. The papers in this panel investigate the various aspects of the European Semester to elucidate what the implications of said changes have been with regard to the locus of power in the EU. Has there been a significant shift in the power relations among the main institutions of the EU? How has the concept of national ownership, promoted by the European Commission, translated into practice? How has this macro-process of multi-level coordination re-shaped the relations between the Commission and the Member States governments or the national parliaments? Has the greater involvement of actors concerned with social policy objectives effectively re-direct the European Semester away from austerity and retrenchment?