ABSTRACT
In the field of anti-poverty policies, which have constituted a major brick of 'social Europe' since decades, the European Union's (EU's) overarching strategy Europe 2020 has actually marked a major discontinuity vis-a-vis the Social Open Method of Coordination (OMC) of the Lisbon phase. Since the mid-to-late 1990s, in the new scenario of 'semi-sovereign welfare states', the assessment of the European influence on domestic social policy change has been at the core of two main strands of comparative welfare state research. This chapter investigates whether and how Europe matters in the fight against poverty and social exclusion within the Europe 2020 institutional framework. It briefly summarizes the main findings of the literature focusing on the process of European integration and consequent impact at the national level, with particular reference to the field of social and anti-poverty policies. The chapter also provides an outline of this book.
