‘Old wine in a new bottle ’ or ‘something new under the sun’? A Comparative Assessment of the European Commission’s Flexicurity-concept1

Abstract: The European Commission’s adoption of Flexicurity-policies, as part of the revitaliza-tion of the European Employment Strategy, has triggered rather intense debate. Trade unionists and researchers are sceptic and see the Flexicurity-agenda as a change of visual attraction rather than a real policy revision of the Commission’s employment policy. Subsequently they also claim that the Commission’s style of Flexicurity is unbalanced and not living up to the intensions originally embedded in the concept. This paper test these accusations by analysing the policy-recommendations put forward by the Commission under the Flexicurity heading in comparison with former guidelines on employment and social policy. Furthermore, the Commission’s version of Flexicurity is compared to those of Denmark and the Netherlands that have been known as the real-life examples of Flexicurity. The analyses suggest that Flexicurity has brought about sub-stantial changes, especially in regard to the roles envisaged for unemployment benefits and ac-tive labour market policies as constituent parts of the broader policy-mix. It is also argued that the Commissions style of Flexicurity is better balanced and more appropriate than both the Dutch and Danish examples