At the same time, academic analyses also demonstrated the huge strides that EU has made in its social policy -- far more than it original intended or than its original objectives were, and that, by doing so, it has transcended the purely intergovernmental realm both in terms of decision-making procedures in terms of social partner participation. However, the practical significance of these events still remains unclear and under-researched. This may be due to the fact that the EU and its social policies are too recent an issue to have a clear consensus on as yet, and that perspective depends on the specific historical period.
The Europeanization of national social policies proceeds in two directions: 1. Direct effects that ensure from implementation of its social polices; 2. Indirect effects that ensure from non-extant EU measures and from effects of various market-making policies on social issues. Academic research has only dealt in a very peripheral and insufficient manner with both.
As regards direct effects, examples of studies include gender equality; the implementation and effects of the Equal Pay Directive; EU's social provisions on improving driver's safety; a few in-depth studies on domestic Europeanization process in open method of coordination (OMC); and labor law -- which is the crux of EU social policy regulation. Results, in general, reveal the same pattern: implementation of EU social...
Debates over EU policy -- both direct and indirect -- have also reflected the economics of the times. In the 1980s, lacking competences and scarce activities in the EU were feared but meanwhile international economic liberalization has made the EU emerge in a better light as potentially offering a solution to the problems of globalization.
As regards academic research coverage of these topics, greater output has been focused on description, and too little has emerged about the direct and indirect results of EU policy. This is due to three reasons: 1. The lack of funding for large empirical projects; 2. The distribution of researchers in various counties with political conditions discouraging them from forming the tight coordination that is necessary for empirical research; and, 3. Methodological difficulties that include the need to differentiate EU-induced changes from national reforms.
Falkner concludes that, despite the difficulties, more reliable empirical research on EU social policy, as distinguished from national policy is needed, and less of the wordy descriptive…
