Introduction

The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) was introduced for the purpose of monitoring the ‘modernisation’ of the European Social Model (ESM) from a hypothetical ‘centre’ towards greater flexibility, better economic efficiency and lower costs. What verdict can be issued concerning the OMC, in the context of reform of the ESM? This chapter will focus on the European Employment Strategy (EES) as an exemplar of what could be called ‘a politics of indicators’, by which is meant the specific type of political action and monitoring introduced by the OMC.

Under the EES the benchmarking of national employment policies, by means of a set of indicators, plays a key role. In benchmarking management techniques, identifying good practices is the precondition for finding ways of applying them (Tronti, 2001). The performance gaps between firms have to be measured in a consistent and reliable manner and properly correlated with the objectives of the firm. They must be clearly attributable to the causes, that is, the good practices. It is at this decisive point that the indicators appear on the scene. While, in the case of a firm, it is fairly easy to agree on objectives (profit, growth, cost reduction, share value, productivity, and so on), on how they are to be quantified, and on some of their interrelationships, this is much more difficult for public policies, the purposes of which are extremely varied and, in some cases, mutually contradictory. It is often quite impossible to disentangle the complex web of interactions existing between quantitative performance and the identification of good practices. In any case, political deliberation is needed for agreement – or minimum compromise – to be reached on the values and standards on the basis of which public decisions are to be taken. It is precisely from such political deliberation that the OMC is seeking to take its distance.

The general line of argument that will be followed here is that there exist, empirically and politically, so many obstacles to the effective and efficient use of this method within the EES that benchmarking ultimately boils down to little more than scoring. Member states are simply ranked by performance on a series of quantitative indicators, with the worst performers then being urged to do better.