What are the Future Prospects for the European Social Model? An Analysis of EU Equal Opportunities and Employment Policy Beryl Philine ter Haar and Paul Copeland* Abstract: The aim of our article is to examine the future prospects of the European Social Model (ESM). First, the article defines the ESM as a mixture of hard law, soft law and underlying norms and values. Second, the article analyses the ESM on a more detailed level in the case of the law of equal opportunities and employment through a historical account and the legal dynamics of integration. The results of the analysis indicate a growing integration capacity of the ESM. Yet, this runs counter to the current neoliberal preferences of the Barroso Commission which has moved from a strategy of combining economic growth and social cohesion, to one in which economic growth creates social cohesion. I Introduction The European Social Model (ESM) is one of the most contested aspects of the Euro- pean integration process. That European integration has been anything more than a simple market-making process is hugely contested. For Kleinman, the idea of a ESM should be considered a ‘myth’ which helps to create (not defend) the concept and reality of Europeanism and a politically integrated Europe. 1 Schmidt argues ‘in the absence of common policies and the difficulty instituting them because of the tremendous diversity in the concepts, priorities, policy instruments and funding social security systems, European Member States have been largely left to cope of their own’. 2 Despite such claims the concept of a ESM is often referred to within the existing set of literature and the primary documentation produced by the various EU institutions; there is an increasing body of literature which argues the EU has a competence in social policy and that the European integration process has not been a simple market-making process. Historically, tracing the developments of the ESM creates a compelling case for its existence. Such an analysis has been undertaken by Hantrais and is beyond the scope * Dr Paul Copeland, Hallsworth Research Fellow, Politics, Social of Social Sciences, University of Manchester. Beryl ter Haar (LLM), PhD candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Leiden. 1 M. Kleinman, A European Welfare state? European Union Social Policy in Context (Palgrave, 2002). 2 V.A. Schmidt, The Futures of European Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2002). European Law Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, May 2010, pp. 273–291. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA