Aix- Marseille Université Ecole doctorale des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion d Aix- Marseille

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1 Aix- Marseille Université Ecole doctorale des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion d Aix- Marseille CNRS- Laboratoire d Economie et de Sociologie du Travail, LEST UMR 7317 THESE pour obtenir le grade de DOCTEUR EN SCIENCE ECONOMIQUES présentée et soutenue publiquement le 1 Octobre 2013 par Kalliopi CHATZIANGELIDOU THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LISBON STRATEGY IN AN HETEROGENEOUS EUROPE. THE CASE OF THE SOUTHERN COUNTRIES CONCERNING THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING SYSTEMS L APPLICATION DE LA STRATEGIE DE LISBONNE DANS UNE EUROPE HETEROGENE. LE CAS DE L EDUCATION ET DE LA FORMATION DANS LES PAYS DU SUD Directeur de Thèse : M. Philippe MEHAUT, Directeur de recherche CNRS, LEST Membres du jury : Mme Annamaria Simonazzi, Professeur à l'université de Rome La Sapienza, Rapporteur M. Michel Vernières, Professeur émérite, Université Paris I, Matisse, Rapporteur M. Philippe Méhaut, Directeur de recherche CNRS, LEST M. Philippe Mossé, Directeur de recherche CNRS, LEST

2 Abstract The present thesis attempts a policy impact analysis through the Greek and Italian education and training policies undertaken to respond to the Lisbon s Strategy 2000 requirements. The level of influence of the EU policy within the domestic structure of both countries and its dynamic on national reforms is related to the relationship, - level of influence-, between national and international structure as concerns the educational and training policies. Reforms are not necessarily results of the European s Community policy, but they can be results of the national pathway and they would have taken place in any case. The above hypothesis leads to the query if national policy change is linked to the international directives or it is the independent result of the State s development. Key words: education and training systems, Lisbon Strategy 2000, socio- economic models, vocational qualifications, Open Method of Coordination, Greece, Italy, European benchmarks, knowledge competences. Summary in English Academics based on data and empirical research (Brunello, Garibaldi and Wasmer: 2007, Trubek D. M. and Trubek L. G.: 2005) prove that serious gaps between EU countries and difficulties in the adoption of the European benchmarking are still on; especially the countries of the South are characterized as poor performers. The problematic area of the South creates many queries based on the future balance of the European Union and more precisely queries about the ability of the European Union s Community, not only to compete, but to overcome the other global economies. The major goal of the thesis is to analyze the relationship, - level of influence-, between national and international structure as concerns the educational and training policies focusing on the Southern countries of the European Union. National is the policy which is followed within the borders of a country, in Greece and Italy for my case, and international is the policy used for the common coordination of more than one country simultaneously, by the European Union to its Member States for my case. The chosen countries for my analysis are Greece and Italy. I had to limit my analysis

3 by choosing two of the four Southern countries because of the limitations on the permitted time span of my research. Within the text I refer to my geographic area by using the term of the olive belt as Brunello, Garibaldi and Wasmer (2007) use it for the description of Portugal, Greece, Spain and Italy where fewer opportunities of training are offered in contrast to the rest European countries. The case of international comparisons seemed to be interesting to a respectful number of researchers (Lallement and Spurk: 2003), however, the olive zone met less analysis than the other European countries, a fact which made my research more challenging. The reason of choosing the analysis of the educational and training field is based on its crucial role in economic and social growth as there is an increased phenomenon of unemployment and economic welfare instability in the European Union. After having isolated the education and training areas for my research, my interest focused on the Lisbon Strategy 2000 which was mainly created for the encouragement of all types of knowledge (initial, vocational and continuing training) looking at the creation of a strong economy; variety was given to the training both in educational institutions and working environment and courses for unqualified and seniors were offered. The educational systems of the Southern countries start looking at the vocational learning, a fact that was not that important before. Reforms have taken place and significance was given to life long learning. An important issue of my thesis is the level of change which has been noticed after the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy 2000 within the two examined countries, Greece and Italy. Additionally, the poor outcomes of the Lisbon Strategy 2000 regarding its expectations set as a necessity the need of the examination of the variables which influence most the society s function and the analysis of their structure for the specification of the factors which have blocked the adoption of the European guidelines in my case. The research analysis and the comparisons which are completed in my thesis aim at the better understanding of the situation of the olive belt, giving a basis for future research in the way of change, either at national or at EU level, for the establishment of methods which will lead to a better harmonization and cooperation between the two levels for great progress and economic welfare. However, I would like to raise the point of Rangone and Solari (2010) who note that economic growth is related to economic and social factors, thus, Europe should start talking about the social model

4 of economic growth and not about the most suitable economic model. The process for the fighting of unemployment seems to be socioeconomic and not solely economic; European citizens should first understand why there is a need for a change and more importantly to realize the direction which this change should have and take. Superficial reforms cannot have any real improvement, only fundamental efforts can lead to the future change. Thus, the Lisbon Strategy 2000 tried to implement a specific model which would apply to a more flexible and competitive market. Key role for the coordination of the European s Community strategy is the soft legislative instrument of the Open Method of Coordination- a procedure of benchmarking and sharing of best practices among the EU. The EU directives aimed at influencing the domestic agenda. The term directive is defined by a legislative act which sets a target to the Member States of the EU. Even though this target must be reached, States can decide independently the way how. Nevertheless, the level of effectiveness of the European policy is questionable as domestic change does not always happen. The criteria by which the domestic governments shape their agendas may misfit with the guidelines of the Lisbon Agenda. My research based on a series of international literature reviews at a national and an EU level related to investment in education, training and skills. The methodological approaches which I use are the following: the Méthode comparative et analyse societal by Maurice (1989) and the Three Systemic Level by Nieuwenhuis and Shapiro (in Descy and Tessaring: 2004). The key elements of the theories are the internal variables which influence the structure of the national educational and training systems of Greece and Italy. The variables which influence the structure of a country are the base for the analysis of my both countries as I can find the characteristics which prove the match or mismatch with the EU policy. Furthermore, the new theoretical added element is the policy used by the EU which as an external actor also influences the structure of the national framework. Thus, I also include the theoretical framework of Trubek D. M. and Trubek L. G. (in Zeitlin and Pochet with Magnusson: 2005) which identifies different competing models of how the OMC may bring policy change; the different levels are examined and applied to both countries

5 Greece and Italy aiming at the identification of the EU impact at a national field and the level of change caused by it. By using the three above theoretical frameworks I created my methodological approach which is a combination of them. The second part of my research which is characterised by the examination of the two counties in relation to the educational and training policies is totally built on the structure of this theoretical combination. An important element is the strong interaction between the important variables examined. The three fields of education, legislation and labour market have strong links to each other and change to one level cannot be occurred without change to the other. One may hypothesize that the poor results of the olive zone are connected to the no fundamental change of one of the fields making change impossible to the others, to take an example, educational reform can be difficult without the real reform of the labour market. The connection between the structure of the educational system and the structure of the labour market, in my both countries, is carefully analysed in my research, as it can provide serious explanations about the behaviour of their educational and training systems and their potential progress according the Lisbon s Strategy guidelines. By analysing the national structures of the educational and training systems and the EU policy used for the implementation of the Lisbon s guidelines, both levels are examined, national and international. It is important to examine the level of influence of the EU policy within the domestic structure of both countries (Greece and Italy) and its dynamic on national reforms. The difficulty of examining the impact of the European policy on the national policy relies also on the case of change as it is hard to say if change is the result of an external factor or an internal need. References Brunello G., Garibaldi P. & Wasmer E. (2007), Education and training in Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press Lallement M. & Spurk J. (2003), Les stratégies de la comparaison internationale, Paris, CNRS Editions

6 Maurice M. (1989), Méthode comparative et analyse sociétale, Les implications théoriques des comparaisons internationales, Sociologie du travail, No 2, p Nieuwenhuis L. & Shapiro H. (2004), Evaluating systems reform in vocational education and training: learning from Danish and Dutch cases, in Descy P. and Tessaring M., Evaluation of systems and programmes, third edition on vocational training research in Europe: background report, Luxembourg: EUR-OP, Cedefop reference series 57 Rangone M. & Solari S. (2010), Southern Europe s Social Model of Economic Growth in an Age of Financialisation and Crisis, University of Padova, No Trubek D. M. & Trubek L. G. (2005), Hard and Soft Law in the Construction of Social Europe: the Role of the Open Method of Co-ordination, European Law Journal, Vol 11 (3), p Trubek D. M. & Trubek L. G. (2005), The Open Method of Co- ordination and the debate over Hard and Soft Law in Zeitlin J. & Pochet P. with Magnusson L., The Open Method of Co- ordination in Action, The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies, Bruxelles; New York : P.I.E.-Peter Lang, p