Abstract

Introduced in 2011, the European Semester has been a prominent governance process at the European Union level for over a decade. Initially mainly focussed on macroeconomic and fiscal priorities, over the years attention to social policies has also increased. In the intentions of the von der Leyen Commission, and in line with the ambitions of the European Green Deal, the 2020 cycle of the Semester should have been refocused towards the goal of «competitive sustainability», thus strengthening its historically-underdeveloped environmental dimension. This article investigates if and to what extent the 2020 European Semester was actually reoriented towards a more balanced approach, that is pursuing economic growth alongside social and ecological goals, while also making them mutually-reinforcing and addressing their possible trade-offs. After an analytical and conceptual dissertation and after presenting the historical background of the study, the paper analyses through qualitative methods the 2020 European Semester narrative, outputs and procedure, as well as their underlying strategic frameworks. It argues that the 2020 European Semester brought about considerable changes in the European Union’s governance of the interlinkages between social, environmental and economic issues, more in line with sustainable development