15 Years of Innovations in Economic Governance: The European Semester as a ‘Multi-level Governance Hub’ for Supranational Steering beyond Regulatory Policy-making

When the European Commission presented its idea of a European Semester in 2010 as a direct response to governance shortcomings revealed by the Euro-crisis, it was met with some scepticism regarding the Semester’s potential for improving coordination and steering within the EMU. After 15 years of learning and adaptation, though, the programme has become “mature” (Bekker 2021a) and is now established as the generally accepted key framework in the EU’s economic governance. However, despite the growing influence of the Semester (most recently with the Recovery and Resilience Facility), no systematic analysis of the steadily expanding governance framework and its various pillars has yet been conducted. Against this backdrop, this paper raises the question of what type(s) of governance has/have emerged in the context of the European Semester since its first cycle in 2011. Adapting Hill and Hupe’s (2022) ‘Multiple Governance Framework’, the analysis addresses shifts, changes, trajectories and expansions in different governance dimensions. Based on the governance and steering literature and by tracing the build-up and merging of various steering tools, the analysis especially draws attention to the European Semester as a ‘governance hub’. Thus, at its core, the analysis aims to better understand the current state of the changing EU governance environment, which goes beyond regulatory approaches.