Bridging the Gaps or Falling Short? The European Pillar of Social Rights and What it Can Bring to EU-Level Policymaking

On 26 April 2017 the Commission presented its proposals for the much awaited European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), an initiative that has been called ‘the last chance for social Europe'. While in the past there have been numerous initiatives that might have brought major change in the social policy area (for example, the youth guarantee, social investment), they have all fallen short and ended up having a rather limited impact. The EPSR, at least as it has been advertised by the European Commission, represents an attempt to break this cycle with its broad reach and ambitious scope. Nevertheless, the usual doubts remain. Will the EPSR effectively change anything in the making of EU social policy? Is this the long-awaited shift or merely another soft law initiative that will fall short? This paper explores whether or not the EPSR will succeed in filling in the gaps when it comes to making social policy at the EU level. More specifically, it assesses the EPSR's potential impact on the policy-making process at the EU level. I argue that, while so far there has been very little detectable impact, the EPSR does offer some hope that certain things could change, especially after the adoption of the proclamation in November 2017. However, any change will depend on how well and actively the EPSR will be picked up and instrumentalised by the EU institutions and other stakeholders. For now, a big part of the EPSR's potential remains untapped and the Commission has not (yet) done a great job in envisioning the instrumentalisation of this brand new instrument