ABSTRACT
The time-honoured Community Method is no longer without alternative. Students of European integration wonder how significant it is that other modes of integration are gaining terrain. The Community Method endowed the Commission with the exclusive authority to initiate policy harmonization. Yet, flexible and soft methods of policy coordination have been developed recently to provide a potential alternative. The Nice Treaty sanctioned flexible integration which had been going on for some time, for example, with respect to border controls under the Schengen Agreement or monetary policy in Economic and Monetary Union. What is now called Enhanced Cooperation takes place when a selection of member states decides to integrate policy areas more closely than others. Another integration method, ‘Open Method’ Coordination (OMC), has been introduced since 1994 to integrate various economic policies (Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, BEPGs), labour market policies (European
Employment Strategy or Open Method on Employment) and basic safety nets (Open Method on Social Inclusion and on Pensions). The coordination of these areas is ‘soft’ since commitments and recommendations are politically binding but not legally enforceable (Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs 2002: 10).
