ABSTRACT
This chapter expands on the conclusions of the previous chapters in order to assess the impact of PES influence over policy outcomes in the EU since the Treaty of Amsterdam. Amsterdam and especially its employment clauses have been identified as a success story for the PES (Ladrech, 2000). However, this analysis has shown that the story is not quite as ‘rosy’, because the problems of national interest and ideological division constrained its ability to influence the IGC. The first section of this chapter examines developments after in the field of employment policy after Amsterdam to assess PES influence. It shows that once again the PES played a role, but not as significant a role as transnationalists argue. If influence is limited in a policy area that could be seen as a classic social democratic one, what are the prospects of the PES acting as a policy-seeking party in less ideological areas subsequent sections examine, such as enlargement, the Treaty of Nice and the Convention on the Future of Europe?
