ABSTRACT
Employment policy has been identified as a classic social democratic policy area. The developments of an EU-wide employment policy would appear to offer an excellent project round which the PES could generate support from its member parties, especially considering that the high levels of unemployment across Europe were being exacerbated by the ability of capital to move freely throughout the EU. However, employment policy can also be identified as at the heart of national social democratic strategies, which could pit the EU ‘road’ against the national ‘road’. There is also the ideological question of how to create jobs, with some apparent differences between social-liberal parties and welfare-regulationist parties. Both of these factors could hinder the ability of the PES to create policy in this area.
