ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the nature of the constraints that frame the European Employment Strategy (EES) from two perspectives: one that focuses on macroeconomic factors, and the other which evaluates the diversity and resilience of various national welfare and employment systems (NWESs). It reflects on the notion of a liberal model and a renewed social-democratic model, and contrasts both models at the European level with respect to the various NWESs at Member State level. The chapter distinguishes a liberal from a renewed social-democratic welfare-state reform model. It examines the dynamics of national welfare and employment systems in order to examine which types of European social projects they imply. Transitional labour market perspectives collide not only with the actual prioritization of objectives under the current economic policy guidelines (BEPGs) and EES but also with other dimensions of social Europe resulting from national systems of social welfare and employment.
