ABSTRACT

Esping-Andersen (1990) and that the Nordic region has always been more diverse in social policy terms (Kettunen 2010). Furthermore, this has possibly been amplified due to the Nordics’ varied approaches to the EU. Instead of the Nordic model, we therefore argue that we should talk about Nordic models. Second, we argue that European integration has not in any way eroded the social policy regimes in the Nordic countries, although some small steps towards policy harmonisation have indeed been taken, especially when it comes to applying shared ideas and policy recommendations to the labour market and family policy. Hence, the relationship between the EU and the Nordic welfare models can be seen to be ambiguous rather than based on any one-way causal relationship or transparent dialogue. This chapter is divided into two main sections. The first consists of a discussion of the main characteristics of Nordic welfare states in order to set the parameters for the discussion of the changes and challenges to the Nordic model resulting from Europeanisation. Indeed, we argue that there is no single Nordic model and, as such, we should instead be talking about Nordic models of welfare. Second, we discuss the Nordic policy developments emanating from a dual set of reform pressures from the EU since the mid-1990s. The first concerns the indirect reform pressures associated with the negative logic of integration, pressures to convergence, tax competition and so forth. The second are direct, albeit possibly more positive, pressures for welfare reform that coalesce around the ESM, especially as the Lisbon Strategy has again made the ESM a higher priority for the Union.