The Open Method of Coordination (OMC), introduced to achieve the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy, is a soft law mechanism, supplementary to the legally binding and sanctions-oriented harmonisation of EU members’ policies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implementation of the OMC as a decentralised and voluntarily adopted method, assess its effectiveness and outline the prospects for its future. The method is based largely on mutual observation and the comparison of solutions applied in member states as well as the transfer of best practices. OMC was supposed to be an instrument free from the problems associated with hard law instruments – such as the crisis of legitimacy or the reluctance of member states to limit their own competence in economic and social policy – and to respect specific national solutions of EU countries. Despite advantages such as flexibility, openness, responsiveness to changes in the environment, transparency, and attenuated political resistance in the member countries, the method is not free from controversy. Its main drawback is the poor performance resulting primarily from the inability to enforce the developed provisions along with excessive orientation towards quantitative criteria and competition between countries (“economisation” accompanied by the neglect of social issues). Despite the failure of the Lisbon Strategy, the OMC will be applied to an even greater extent in the next strategy – Europe 2020. Its effectiveness will depend, however, on the correction of some of its mechanisms – for example, the introduction of financial incentives or increased participation of various stakeholder groups.
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The open method of coordination (OMC) holds great potential to improve various (qualitative and quantitative) aspects of education policies in EU member states. Due to its soft/non-obligatory way of influencing policy, it is particularly interesting to investigate to what extent its potential is actually put to good use in member states and which factors determine whether member states actually achieve the Lisbon Strategy’s goals. Bearing in mind the lack of empirical evidence for the OMC’s influence on national education policies, and considering the theoretical assumptions of soft modes of governance, Europeanisation processes and policy learning, this article identifies the potential of the OMC, and analyses its (possible) impact on education policy in Slovenia. Here, the article limits itself to the lifelong learning policy and seeks to discover the extent to which the OMC’s potential in this regard is taken advantage of in Slovenia. The article concludes that, although relatively good results are visible in National/EU Progress Reports, its full potential has not been exploited. The authors explain that good quantitative goals are achievable for member states even without respecting the qualitative goals related to good governance. In order to make use of all of the potential, more knowledge about the OMC in Slovenia would be required.
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