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The OMC in Denmark: European ideas meet domestic politics and policies

Draft paper

Caroline de la Porte1

To be presented at the IPSA conference, Madrid

Panel “Shifting boundaries of politico-administrative relations

within the framework of OMC processes”

Panel Organiser: Prof. Danica Fink-Hafner

1 This paper has benefitted from discussions arising from previous presentations of the findings: in April 2011 it

was presented at the centre for welfare state research, Bergen; in September 2011, it was presented at the ESPAnet conference in Valencia; in April 2012, it was presented at the workshop on EU policy coordination at the department of political science, Ljbubljana, Slovenia. I would also like to thank Olli Kangas for useful comments on a previous draft of this paper.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AE Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd DPP Danish People’s Party EAPN European Anti Poverty Network EMCO Employment Committee EES European Employment Strategy EU European Union FOA Fag og Arbejde (trade union) LO Landsorganisationen (trade union) 3F Fælles Fagligt Forbund (trade union) ML Ministry of Labour MF Ministry of Finance MHP Ministry of Health and Prevention MSW Ministry of Social Welfare NAPincl National Action Plan against poverty and social exclusion NGO Non-governmental organization NRP National Reform Programme NSR National Strategy Report OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OMC Open Method of Coordination SFI Social Forsknings Institut (Social Research Institute) Social OMC Open Method of Coordination in social protection and

social inclusion OMCincl Open method of coordination in social inclusion (social

inclusion strand of social OMC) SPC Social Protection Committee

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1. Introduction

This chapter focuses on the influence of social OMC in Denmark in the 2006-2010 period,

examining whether and if so, how, the OMC has influenced the debate, politics or policy of

social protection reform. Denmark, alongside the other Nordic welfare states, has been

considered as a model for the rest of the EU, and has been active by “uploading” issues to

the EU agenda in social policy (Kvist, 2007; Jacobsson, 2005). For example, in labour market

policy, Denmark has served as a model for emulation on the basis of its flexicurity model

(flexibility, social security, life-long learning and skills updating), also used to domestically

popularise the particular features of the Danish labour market system (Barbier et al., 2008).

Also, Denmark’s extensive system of care for the elderly is considered to be exemplary by

other EU countries seeking to introduce a reform in this area (Österle, 2011). On the other

side of the equation, what Denmark can learn from the OMC, the Danish government, that

dictates social policy which civil servants must implement, considers that the EU should not

intervene in core social protection and has thus from the beginning had a sceptical stance to

ideas or policies deriving from the social OMC (Jacobsson, 2005; European Commission,

2006). NGOs, however, have perceived of the OMC, particularly its social inclusion strand, as

a political opportunity structure through which to bargain their preferences vis-à-vis civil

servants and the government. More specifically, NGOs have, via the OMC and associated

processes, continuously emphasized that poverty is a problem in Denmark, and that it

should be measured and addressed. This chapter builds on existing knowledge about the

OMC in Denmark, particularly analysing the specific issue areas – poverty and homelessness

- where the OMC has been influential in Denmark. It thereby also makes a contribution to

the literature about ideas, voluntarism and policy change, pointing to the general conditions

under which the OMC has been influential in Denmark.

Due to the difficulty of analysing the influence of a soft non-binding policy instrument, it is

necessary to take careful account of the mechanisms of influence and to assess the

significance of the OMC in a process change, contextualized with the influence of other

confounding factors (de la Porte and Pochet, 2012). In line with the previous literature

(Zeitlin, 2009), as well as the analytical framework set out in this project (PPMI and

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Weishaupt, 2012), a distinction is made between procedural and substantive influences,

which are linked in practice, but that are useful to separate analytically. The chapter also

takes account of headway made in the process of analysing the influence of the OMC (de la

Porte and Weishaupt, 2012; de la Porte and Pochet, 2012; de la Porte, 2010). The first type

of influence analysed is procedural, that refers to the process of elaborating the “national

report” to conform to EU criteria. Aside from tapping into how strategic the OMC is

considered, which could be an indication of how influential it is, it is important to analyse

how various governmental and non-governmental as well as other actors at different levels

of governance perceive of the OMC. The way that actors perceive of the OMC is intimately

linked with how they engage with it more substantively, as ‘leverage’ (Ehrel et al., 2005) or

in terms of ‘creative appropriation’ (Hamel and Vanhercke, 2009). How actors engage with

the OMC is crucial, since it is, ultimately, based on voluntarism. Analysing the reporting

procedure is also important because the OMC could contribute to the development of

institutional capabilities (Ferrera and Sacchi, 2005), that is improvements in steering

capability due to improved data through evidence-based learning and more systematic

monitoring of progress via the OMC. From a substantive perspective, the first type of

change is ideational, that is a change in the perception or definition of an issue through new

knowledge (coined “cognitive shifts” by Zeitlin, 2009). Ideational impacts involve new ideas

or new ways of framing issues, which in turn are associated with novel ways of addressing

issues (Rein and Schon, 1993). Ideational impacts typically involves intentional policy

learning by actors that encounter the OMC (from EU policy and/or from peer countries),

which may be supported (but not necessarily) by data or knowledge produced at the EU

level in conjunction with the OMC. However, it may also involve unintentional learning,

where the source of frames (which may be from the OMC) is not always known by the

actors using them. This type of effect, coined a ‘capillary effect’, is indirect, and what is

more, there is some degree of uncertainty about whether it is the OMC that is influential in

the use of a particular frame (REF). In cases where it seems like the OMC had a capillary

effect, its role needs to be compared very carefully with that of other potential sources of

frames. A second type of impact is agenda-setting, for which it is useful to make a

distinction conceptually and analytically between the public agenda (which relates to

broader diffusion about an issue arising from the OMC in the media), the political agenda

(that relates to a debate or decision in parliament and/or among political parties), and the

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policy agenda (which is related more directly to a proposal for a policy change in legislation

and/or the development of a new strategy). The third type of influence is policy change

(referred by Zeitlin, 2009 as “programmatic change”), which refers to cases where the OMC

directly contributed to actual changes in policy. The latter is most often the outcome of a

longer process of incremental influence of the OMC, building on ideational changes and/or

agenda-setting. Yet another mechanism of influence is reflexive learning, which refers to

using EU data and knowledge to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses of existing policies. This

may take place through the reporting procedure associated with the OMC or through other

national reports that draw directly or indirectly on EU knowledge and/or data. This

contribution focuses on how civil servants as well as non-state and other actors have been

involved in the iterative reporting cycle and from a substantive perspective, whether, the

OMC that has contributed to ideational shifts, agenda-setting and/or policy change.

The findings show, on the one hand, that the OMC has contributed to raise the issue of

poverty onto the political and public agenda in the field of poverty. I argue that it has had

some influence in this area because poverty issues do not represent a core area of social

protection, and because it is intentionally used as leverage by actors that use the OMC as

‘leverage’ through which to raise issues on the agenda. The OMC has also contributed to

policy change, via the homelessness network FEANTSA, which provided the frame, data-

collection and policy solution to homelessness. This then percolated to commissioning an

evidence-based expert report about the best way to tackle homelessness nationally and

ultimately, a political decision and the means to develop this strategy. Parallel to this, a

voluntary network focusing on combating homelessness in cities, habitact, provided input to

the development of homelessness strategies in cities. Strikingly, the mechanisms

(socialization, framing, knowledge development and policy response) were the same as

those identified at the national level. There is also some evidence that the same has been

occurring in the area of trafficking of women. The evidence suggests that the necessary but

not sufficient conditions for the OMC’s impact in this area are, first, that these phenomena

are relatively recent phenomena; second, a wealth of knowledge, data and expertise was

produced or facilitated by the European level networks (NGOs, experts, peer reviews); third,

the actors which were decisive drivers created the opportunity to use the OMC themselves

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through voluntarism. On the other hand, the OMC in pensions and health care, core areas of

social protection, have not been able to penetrate, ideationally or politically in Denmark. I

argue that it is because these areas are deeply entrenched and re-distributive areas, linked

to taxation and driven entirely by domestic politics. Also, the EU’s data and knowledge in

this area was not considered to be of added value (contrasting with the perceived value of

the data of the OECD), and there were no innovative actors involved in the OMC in these

two areas.

In the following, a brief presentation of the main changes and challenges of welfare state in

Denmark will be presented. After this, a review of the existing literature about the social

OMC in Denmark up to 2005 will be made, focusing on how the actors engaged with the

OMC and what influence the OMC policies and procedures have had. Thereafter, the core

of this chapter will scrutinize the influence of the Social OMC in Denmark, using the

conceptual framework outlined above, first tapping into the effect of the OMC procedure,

and thereafter focusing more specifically on the diffusion of the notion of poverty and

finally, on how the OMC contributed to the development of homelessness strategies at

national and local levels, via non-governmental policy networks. The chapter also briefly

analyzes the EU and international channels through which pension and health care reform

are predominantly being influenced. Finally, the conclusion summarizes the results and

identifies challenges for the OMC in Denmark in the period after 2010.

2. Social policy reforms in Denmark during the 2000s:

The influence of the OMC in Denmark needs to be contextualized with on-going national

reforms. A cornerstone of the Danish social policy approach is on active citizenship and work

as a way out of social exclusion. Recent reforms have been coined the ‘work-first’ approach:

Compared to the traditional and more comprehensive activation, that aims to match labour

demand with supply, the work-first approach is distinct for two reasons: firstly, it places

more responsibility for employment and training at the level of the individual; secondly, the

definition of an ‘appropriate’ job is broadened, where the individual is more often obliged

to take up a job for which he/she is overqualified (Trickey and Lødemel, 2001). In this

context, social assistance, accessible after harsh means-tests and other conditionality

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assessments, acts as a last resort for those who are incapable of participating on the labour

market (Kuivalainen and Nelson, 2012). Active citizenship has been a key feature of Danish

social policy for a long time, and has been emphasized further in the policies of the Liberal-

Conservative government in power from 2001 to 2011. At the same time, measures were

introduced that put third country citizens at a higher risk of poverty and exclusion: the first

was the “introductory benefit”, introduced in 2002 for third country immigrants (including

refugees) who were not able to find a job upon arrival in Denmark. From the perspective of

the risk of monetary poverty, it was considered insufficient as it was 35% lower than the

ordinary social assistance level. It included a requirement to participate in an “integration

programme” and to be available for work. The second measure was the “350 hour” rule

(extended to 450 hours in 2009), which required spouses who receive welfare benefits to

work 450 hours within a 2-year period in order to be eligible for welfare benefits (Ghosh and

Juul, 2008). Both have been criticized for their risk of creating poverty traps and from falling

short of encouraging individuals to participate in the regular labour market. These were but

small initiatives embedded in the broader aim of maximizing labour market participation

and enhancing punitive measures for those citizens who were not in employment,

embodied in the welfare agreement of 2006. This major reform aims to increase the

employment rate, focusing especially on labour market participation of immigrants and

older citizens, benefitting from voluntary early retirement. This work-first approach and

activation continues under the coalition government gathering social democrats, socialists

and social liberals that took office in 2011 (Denmark aims to increase its employment rate to

80% by 2020), while the targeted social assistance measures aimed at third-country

immigrants were discontinued.

After the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis, the government curbed public expenditure

in response to an EU recommendation in June 2010 highlighting the need to take measures

to reduce the high level of public debt in Denmark (REF). The total period for receiving

unemployment benefits – which 80% of the workforce has the right to receive in case they

lose their job - was reduced from 4 to 2 years. With the increase of unemployment in the

aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the risk of people being transferred to the social

assistance scheme, for which conditionality has been softened, has been enhanced. Citizens

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on social assistance are at a higher risk of poverty (Fritzell et al., 2012; Kuivalainen and

Nelson, 2012).

Another important change, partially re-shuffling the division of competencies in social

policy, is the Structural Reform of 2007, that aimed to decentralise decision-making by

creating bigger and fewer regions and municipalities. The number of regions has been

reduced from fourteen to five and they have the main responsibility for developing,

administrating and implementing health care policy, although they must follow the general

policies and regulations set at the national level. Private hospitals and treatment have been

introduced in order to reduce waiting lists and there are for profit and non-for profit

insurance companies (covering 20% of the population) that provide access to some

specialised services, which are otherwise out of reach for some citizens (Kvist and Greve,

2011; Bambra, 2012). The number of municipalities was reduced from 275 to 98, and they

have been given more responsibility for administering, supplying and financing the social

sector, and for dealing with the excluded and the homeless (Ministry of Social Affairs and

Ministry of Interior Affairs and Health, 2006: 2; Kvist, 2009: 5)2. This has catapulted to more

interest and activity with regard to the homeless, but drawing on concepts, frames and data

developed within voluntarily initiated EU-level networks.

2 In the area of employment, which will not be discussed in this chapter in detail, there are

four regions (Employment Region Copenhagen and Zealand, 2010).

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3. The social OMC from 2000-2005: the concept of poverty at a cross-road

The research on the social OMC in Denmark suggests that Denmark, like Sweden and the

other Nordic countries, has little to learn from the OMC, as it already is a “best pupil”

(Jacobsson, 2005; de la Porte, 2002). However, as suggested above, even the best pupils

have some weaknesses. Denmark is shifting from a generous universal welfare state

towards a more selective multi-tiered welfare state with more inequality and a higher

proportion of citizens at the risk of poverty (Kvist and Greve, 2011; Kvist et al., 2012). In the

2000-2005 period, the reporting for the social OMC was mainly perceived as an ex-post

governmental process, rather than a plan for future action (Jacobsson, 2005: 128). The

strategy of the Danish government was to report on issues required by the EU, but using the

national framework and data, rather than the European frame of reference (Ragaglia, 2000:

74-75). Despite this, the OMCincl was influential in Denmark in two inter-related ways: for

the first, the development of a national action plan in social inclusion (NAPincl) by the

government provided – for the first time - an overview of existing measures and policies

aimed at vulnerable groups. Furthermore, from 2003, the government sought to mobilize

NGO involvement in the process of developing the NAPincl (Jacobsson, 2005; European

Commission, 2006: 6). This has led to an important procedural effect: NGOs learn about

Danish poverty and exclusion issues through the EU frame of reference and they then use it

as leverage to raise poverty issues vis-à-vis governmental actors (agenda-setting). In this

first period, however, the discussion about poverty via the EU data and frame of reference

does not permeate beyond the restrained circle of governmental and non-governmental

actors involved. Concerning the pensions and health care OMCs, there are no case studies

on these in the 2000-2005 period, but it seems that they did not receive the same attention

as the social inclusion OMC (interviews, MSW, MHP).

Following the revision of the Lisbon Strategy in 2005, the three separate social OMC

processes were joined into one process (REF intro). The Danish delegates to the SPC

supported this decision, because it was perceived by the civil servants as a way to reduce

the work-load of the process of reporting to the EU. The Danish delegates continued to

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uphold the position that the EU should not intervene in social policy and should not set

quantitative benchmarks (European Commission, 2006: 34). It was especially in the area of

poverty and exclusion that the EU was active. More specifically, the EU developed a new

database, EU-SILC, which provided timely comparative data about income and living

conditions across all EU countries. Furthermore, on the basis of this database, the EU agreed

on an at-risk-of-poverty threshold - below 60% of the media income - met with resistance

by Danish delegates in the MSW (not to mention the government). In the analysis that

follows, it will become apparent that there has been some degree of path-dependence with

this initial attitude of the government, while NGOs, as well as local authorities have used

and continue to use the OMC in social inclusion in different ways, particularly regarding the

conceptualization and diffusion of the issue of poverty and the development of national

strategies to address relatively novel phenomena. I will argue that the OMC has the most

impact when used voluntarily by actors that have a stake in an issue, and when the EU

provides, through the OMC, an element of novelty compared to what already exists,

particularly as a source of power, knowledge and networking. The major effect during this

first period was an ideational challenge to the Danish conception of poverty, picked up by

NGOs that used the OMC intentionally as leverage, and adopted EU frames for

conceptualizing poverty. However, in this period, the conceptualization of poverty and

related issues remained at a cross-road, as no action followed on from this.

4. The social OMC in Denmark from 2006-2010: NGO activism is pursued

The NSR, that replaces the national action plans for different aspects of the social OMC of

the previous periods, is viewed by all actors concerned – those that are aware of its

existence - as an overview of Danish social policy. In the Danish NSR, the novelty brought by

the European level is “purposefully kept to a minimum” (Interview MF). The defensive

attitude of civil servants towards the OMC is in line with the trend set in the initial period,

since social policy is considered to be an area where the EU has no say at all (interviews,

MSW, MHP). Nevertheless, the quality of the NSR, in as far as it is qualified as a (national

level) document which reports on existing policy to the EU, is deemed to be good and

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comprehensive, particularly for policy against social exclusion. In step with national practice,

horizontal governmental co-ordination among different ministerial departments functions

well in the writing of the NSR and related reports, while vertical coordination is barely

developed (Interviews, MSW, ML, MHP, MF, REFS regional local). The NSR for 2006-2008 has

been highlighted by governmental actors as an excellent report, since it included many

details on resource allocation and specific plans for implementation of initiatives for the

social inclusion strand of the OMC. This is why officials in the service management arm of

the MSW, which is responsible for the allocation of funding for projects in social exclusion at

local level, find the NSRs useful: they provide a solid base for dialoguing with NGOs in the

identification of priority areas (e.g. homelessness), and a tool for monitoring progress

(interviews, MSW). For the two other strands, the NSRs present only main features of the

major reforms, but they are not perceived by governmental actors, NGOs or experts to

provide any added value compared to national sources of information. This explains why the

civil servants in the MHP see the NSR only as a bureaucratic burden, while the OECD’s

expert data and policy advice is considered much more valuable (interviews MHP).

Streamlining has, therefore, neither increased nor decreased the relative impact or

perception of the relevance of the different streams of the OMC.

The MSW has pursued its policy of encouraging active involvement of NGOs through the

2006-2010 period, using different techniques, but the breadth of voice among NGOs has not

improved (interviews, NGOs). The NGOs that have strong linkages to the EU level (using

funds and/or linked to an umbrella organisations and/or access to peer reviews or other EU

level events) are active in the consultation process, while other smaller NGOs that have few

resources continue to be absent (interviews, NGOs). The dualism of participating and non-

participating NGOs is reproduced in different aspects of the OMC (consultation on draft and

then on final report, participation in peer reviews, possibility to obtain funds to organise

events) and is a structural feature of involvement in the social OMC in Denmark. However,

the degree of penetration of the NGOs that do participate may be increasing – continuous

agenda-setting and bargaining - mainly through a reiteration of their key concerns with

government policy. The government made NGO statements even more visible in the 2008-

2010 NSR, integrating their statements into the core of the NSR, rather than merely as an

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annex. The NGOs have highlighted several issues, in particular that Denmark should adopt

an official at risk of poverty threshold; that increases in inequality during old-age related to

the shift to earnings-related pension systems should be addressed; that preventive

measures for the socially disadvantaged should be developed; and that here is too much of

a labour market focus in the social inclusion strategy of the government (NSR 2008: 13-15).

These aspects were later, in conjunction with the European poverty year of 2010 as a

trigger, diffused broadly in the media. Also, as will be discussed below, the NGOs took an

initiative in 2010 - effectively using the OMC’s concepts as leverage and attempting to set

the agenda - requesting these issues should be addressed by the Prime Minister (EAPN-DK

and social-politisk forening, 2010).

It is to be noted that the improvement in visibility of NGO statements does not directly alter

the policy of government (Interview NGOs, interview SFI, ASISP). As stated by one civil

servant who is close to the OMC process: “the statements and aims of the NGOs are

definitely heard, but the policies are often pre-determined, with little room for their

concerns to be substantially integrated in the NSRs”(interview MF). The main procedural

impact of the OMC, then, has been to involve NGOs, that have been socialized to the OMC

and its concepts, as well as data, and have thereafter actively used these for framing

poverty issues. No comparable NGOs in pensions and health care have used the OMC in the

same way, hence lack of knowledge and pressure to address sensitive issues.

As mentioned above, horizontal coordination functions well for EU reporting, but there is

not much vertical coordination, and this has not increased over time. The special committee

(“Speciale Udvalg”) of the regions that has existed since 1972 maintains the communication

with the local and regional level via one representative and this person is aware of the

existence of the OMC in inclusion, but is not familiar with its specific aims. (Interviews,

MSW, Regional rep). This does not mean that there has been no activity at the local level.

However, as will be presented later in this chapter, it was not directly the OMC that

instigated activity around homelessness, but instead the structural reform of 2007 that

provided the municipalities with more power with regard to developing policies and

measures for excluded groups in conjunction with a voluntarily initiated network among

cities in the area of homelessness, habitact.

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4.1. The European poverty year as a trigger: There is poverty in Denmark!

The OMC has had an impact on the political debate about the issue of poverty in Denmark,

which is mainly centered around whether and if so, how to measure poverty. Poverty is a

very sensitive issue in Denmark, which the Conservative-Liberal government shied away

from, instead focusing on a work-first approach to labour market integration. At the same

time, political parties have been obliged to develop an official position on poverty in the

wake of the financial crisis of 2008 (interviews, NGOs, experts). At the time of writing this

contribution, there is (still) no official at risk of poverty threshold in Denmark. This section

shows how the frames developed through the OMC have led to a juxtaposition between

civil servants and the government, on the one hand, and NGOs and experts, on this other

hand. This has been percolated to the political agenda among political parties. Furthermore,

the NGOs and the media have kept poverty on the agenda through the European poverty

year (2010), despite the fact that civil servants wanted the event to be very low profile.

Through the OMC, an EU level standard on poverty has been adopted, whereby citizens are

considered to be at the risk of poverty if they earn below 60% of the median income. The

position of the government and by extension, the civil servants, is that the EU at risk of

poverty threshold is not relevant for Denmark because it does not take account of the

universalist services-based characteristic of the welfare state. The discussion about whether

or not to adopt an official at risk of poverty threshold and if it is adopted, where the cut-off

point should be, has put the government and the civil servants in an uncomfortable

position, particularly in the latter half of the 2000s. They defend the Danish welfare state on

the basis of a technical argument – the at-risk-of-poverty threshold does not take account of

the services provided in the Danish welfare state - although there are political undertones to

this. They argue that measuring poverty on the basis of median income would be misleading

due to the fact that students, some pensioners and owners of small businesses who be

categorized as poor (interviews, MSW, AE, SFI). However, these can easily be disaggregated

in the datasets to obtain a more precise overview of the demographic composition of

monetary poverty. Indeed, the threshold which is most commonly used is below 50% of the

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median income, excluding students. This is the standard that is used by all authoritative

expert analysts, as well as by actors at the local level (AE, 2011a, AE 2011b; Odense

kommune, 2008). The political aspect – a universal welfare state should not have poverty –

is decisive in explaining the resistance of the government (reflected by the position of the

civil servants) to adopt a poverty threshold (interviews, NGOs, interview SFI, AE). An

interviewee of a labour organization states “it is odd that we have common indicators for

labour participation and yet we cannot bring ourselves to incorporate common poverty

indicators” (Interview LO 1). Although this has not been successful, the EU level indicator is

a strong bargaining tool, particularly for the NGOs (Interviews NGOs, Interviews MSW). The

effect of the OMC in this context has not only been to raise the possibility of having an

official at-risk-of-poverty threshold, but also to develop timely and accurate data about

poverty, child poverty and long-term poverty through the EU-SILC (income and living

conditions) database. Furthermore, over the last decade, EU-SILC has contributed to the

development of national or local level analyses on poverty, scrutinizing the developments in

the Danish context from a comparative perspective. The reports, although varying in focus,

all concur that inequality and poverty, child poverty and long-term poverty are increasing in

Denmark. The analyses also concur that Denmark is no longer among the best pupils in the

class with regard to poverty outcomes (AE, 2010; AE, 2011a, 2011b; CASA, 2010)3. Thus, the

concepts and data produced in the context of the EU are used in national analyses,

engendering some reflexive learning, i.e. learning about the weaknesses of the Danish

model using some aspects of the EU framework, concepts and data, but also drawing on the

OECD. Even in the report where EU data is only used marginally, key concepts from the OMC

are structural elements in the reports. Different mechanisms are combined in this process,

but it is particularly capillary effects that explain the way the data and concepts are

influential, since the actors which use them rarely know that the terms and data originated

from the OMC. However, the data produced in the OMC also has other effects, such as the

development of an evidence-based comparative discussion about poverty, where it is NGOs

and experts that have framed poverty as an issue in Denmark.

3 In national analyses, it is solely data from the CPR registry that is used (interview AE)

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The debate about poverty juxtaposing civil servants (that are against the adoption of an at

risk of poverty threshold, reflecting government position) with civil society and experts is

also played out in the political arena, among political parties. Here also, the effect was

capillary because the OMC was one among other factors from which the data and frames

for the debate were drawn, which the political actors were not aware of. This debate was

already in the media in 2008, focusing mainly around the definition of poverty and whether

or not to adopt a poverty threshold. The debate has not addressed which type of measures

to combat poverty. The Liberal and Conservative Parties, the Danish people’s party, and the

social liberals, do not support the idea of adopting an official at-risk-of-poverty threshold.

These parties consider that poverty is a symptom of another problem, related to the

individual (such as drug problems) and that ultimately, if people are in poverty, it is their

fault (The Danish government’s website, 2008). This is in line with the perception of social

assistance beneficiaries as excluded citizens with major social and other problems. Social

assistance has traditionally been a last resort and access to the scheme has been tough,

through means and other tests, which meant that the beneficiaries used to be very

marginalized citizens. However, the profile of social assistance beneficiaries has changed

over the last decade, due to a tightening of conditions for receiving unemployment benefits

(Kuivalainen and Nelson, 2012).

The Social democrats and socialist people’s party, by contrast, consider that an official at

risk of poverty threshold should be adopted. Both parties consider that an official at-risk-of-

poverty threshold can reveal which groups are at the risk of poverty to then be able to take

appropriate measures. This is considered as a first step to solving the problem of poverty.

The Christian Democrats are also supportive of a poverty indicator and would like poverty

prevention to be a legal right. The Red-Green and the liberal Alliances consider that it is

important to acknowledge the existence of poverty and similar to the social democrats, that

a poverty indicator would help reveal, but not combat poverty. They both highlight that

poverty arises because resources are not distributed equally and that a change in social

benefits could help to counter poverty, which would in turn be favorable for growth. The

Liberal Alliance highlights the problem of inter-generational transmission of poverty, and

the lack of education and social capital (The Danish government’s website, 2008). Several

years after this official positioning of the political parties around the issue of poverty, the

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positions of the political parties have not altered substantially, although there has been a

risk in inequality and poverty in Denmark (Kvist et al, 2012).

Following the poverty issues occasional presence on the political and public agenda, which

occasionally is put on the agenda through a variety of different (mainly domestic)

mechanisms (interviews SF, AE), the European poverty year, in 2010, instigated focus on the

issue for a whole year. The thematic year was initiated by the European Commission, with

the support of European NGOs, in order to raise awareness about issues of poverty and

exclusion among the EU member states. Member states were encouraged to appoint

poverty “ambassadors” and funds were made available to organize expert and political

meetings around poverty. In the run-up to 2010, Danish civil servants reiterated the

governmental position (not to adopt a poverty threshold) and tellingly, they did not appoint

an EU “ambassador” for the poverty year in 2010. The government’s strategy was to

maintain a very low profile about poverty (stop fattigdom nu, 2010, interviews, NGOs,

interviews Mod; interview SFI, interview AE). However, they did organize some events – as

stated by an expert “they had to do something” (interview AE) - which were used by NGOs

to raise the issue on the political agenda.

The main politically salient activity by NGOs during the poverty year was to raise the issue of

poverty to the attention of the prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen. The social policy

organization (socialpolitisk forening) together with the EAPN-DK, wrote a subpoena to the

government, highlighting the increase of poverty and inequality in the 2000 to 2010 period,

partly due to some measures adopted by the government, and requested firm action

against this. This convocation highlighted issues – poverty, child poverty and long-term

poverty - that derived directly from the OMC and which had been highlighted in the NSRs by

NGOs. The specific requests were: to adopt an official definition of an at risk of poverty

threshold; to develop measures to fight long-term poverty; to develop annual poverty

reports in Denmark. There are several annexes to the letter, in particular the report from

the labour movement’s research unit “Unequal Denmark” (AE, 2009), which highlights the

people at the risk of poverty in 2009 (using the OECD’s threshold: below 50% of the median

income, but drawing on EU-SILC data) (Letter to Prime Minister, 21 February 2010). Here the

OMC is used as a source of information, but the trigger to raise political awareness about

poverty is the European poverty year. There was no reaction to this convocation, to the

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disappointment of NGOs that had mobilized for this. Altogether they did not get the political

attention which they sought through this and other activities (interviews, NGOs).

It is to be noted that while a few established NGOs participated in the activities around the

European poverty year, many smaller NGOs were excluded from the activities. This is

because the government worked together with the Danish Institute for Human Rights,

which was allocated the task of distribution of funding, biased towards the existing

institutions working in collaboration with EU umbrella organizations (Intervew, NGO 3).

Thus, activity was organized, and it was intentionally kept low key. Notwithstanding this

shortcoming, the European poverty year did keep the issue of poverty on the Danish

political agenda, although it was largely ignored by the government. Furthermore, key

national media (Politiken, Ekstrabladet, Kristlig Dagblad & Berlingske Tidende) decided to

report extensively on poverty in 2010, in conjunction with the European year of poverty,

which kept the issue of poverty on the public agenda (Interview NGO 3).

In the context of the national elections in 2011, the social democratic and socialist parties

highlighted that poverty, including child poverty, was a major concern in Denmark and that

action should be taken to combat this. While previously, the social democratic party had no

position on poverty measurement, they now use the OECD’s poverty threshold of 50%

(subtracting students, who are considered poor by temporary circumstance), and not the

EU’s poverty threshold of 60%. In addition, the Social democratic party has especially rasied

concern about children in poverty, which is not a traditional Danish area of focus (Schou,

2011; Interview, NGO 2). Concerning child poverty, it comes onto the agenda in conjunction

with the overall discussions on poverty, and the EU is not believed to be influential in

putting it on the agenda (interview, SFI, AE, MOd). After the change of government in 2011,

ad in line with the electoral pledges of the social democratic prime minister who took office,

an expert committee on poverty was established in May 2012, with the task of identifying a

working definition for poverty in Denmark, taking account of monetary and other aspects

poverty, but also to propose policies to help people out of poverty (www.sm.dk, 2012).

Thus, the uncomfortable issue of poverty measurement is not being tackled, and it is clear

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that the OMC has had an impact through the development of comparative data, where it

appears Denmark is no longer among the best pupils and through particular frames for

poverty. The European poverty year of 2010 maintained focus on this issue for a whole year,

which led to diffusion about the issue, that could be related to the decision to finally

establish a committee to decide not on whether to measure poverty in Denmark, but on

how to do it.

4.2. The OMC: knowledge, frames and networks for emergent problems

Up to 2007, homelessness was not addressed as a particular problem, but was subsumed

under other broader initiatives against exclusion. This changed through the OMC, and in

particular, the wealth of knowledge produced by the European homeless network,

FEANTSA. While civil servants and NGOs were initially skeptical about how the OMC could

support their efforts, they began to see it as a tool which could provide information and

facilitate exchange, particularly with regard to emergent problems which had a

transnational dimension, such as homelessness, but also the trafficking of women

(interviews, MSW, NGOs). “The Scandinavian definition of homelessness differs greatly, for

us it is a social issue, whereas in other countries it is perceived more as a housing issue…

more people are now in severe economic and social difficulties.” (Interview MSW). This

means that homelessness has changed from being a very marginal phenomenon to a more

wide-spread phenomenon. The first genuine interest in focusing on homelessness per se

emerged in 2005, when Denmark hosted a peer review on preventing and tackling

homelessness. The project put the issue of homelessness on the national agenda, and has

also led to subsequent activity to define and to systematically count homelessness

subsequently. In addition to that, 5 of the 10 peer reviews attended by Denmark in the

2006-2010 period were on the topic of homelessness, which is indicative of the interest in

exchanges of information on this topic.4 This is confirmed by key civil servant in the service

These five peer reviews are: 1. National strategy to prevent and tackle homelessness – hosted in Norway. (2006); 2. Amnesty of debts: Amicable agreement of the statutory solution – hosted in The Netherlands. (2006); 3. National action plan against substandard housing – hosted in France. (2007); 4. Counting the homeless – improving the basis for planning assistance – hosted in Austria. (2009); 5. Building a comprehensive and participative strategy on homelessness – hosted in Portugal. (2010)

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management of the MSW, which highlights that Denmark’s (esp. NGO’s) genuine interest in

and use of peer reviews in the homelessness (interview MSW). NGOs were very active in

this peer review, especially FEANTSA-DK, and the EU frame of homelessness – ETHOS

definition - as well as technical details of how to count the homeless and categorise them,

have subsequently been adopted in Denmark. After this initial exchange and work on

technical details, an initiative was taken in the service management arm of the MSW to

commission an analysis about the best way to develop a homelessness strategy in Denmark.

An expert from the SFI used the EU data, definitions and frames in proposing a Danish

homelessness strategy (interview SF). This was then put forward for approval in parliament

after which it was adopted and then funding was adopted for enacting this strategy from

2008 to 2011. As stated by a civil servant “Decisions about homelessness in parliament are

able to take place because sufficient knowledge is gathered; therefore, the importance of

the research and publications is very high for policy changes at all levels.” (Interview MSW

4). The information produced by the FEANTSA network has been a crucial factor in this

process, as well as the peer reviews on this issue, where information is exchanged. The

national strategy is more all encompassing, replacing the former ad-hoc targeted

interventions for marginalized groups. The EU level has contributed in terms of socialization,

knowledge exchange, framing, agenda-setting, and the development of evidence-based

knowledge, acting as an important stimulus for the development of a national homelessness

strategy. In 2012, a meeting was organised around the issue of homelessness and housing

rights by the Danish EU Presidency, suggesting a continuation of the previous activities, and

confirming that the EU approach to homelessness, focused on housing, has been well

integrated in the Danish context.

Parallel to initiatives at the national level, the structural reform of 2007 altered the division

of competencies in social policy. The municipality of Odense took on more responsibility for

homelessness in this context and following a reduction of the budget for activities for the

excluded, the municipality pioneered in developing a local homelessness strategy. This

occurred through knowledge obtained via peer reviews organised between cities, via the

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spin-off network of FEANTSA, habitact. The necessary but not sufficient condition for this

comprehensive development of a homelessness strategy was the structural reform of 2007

that provided the municipalities with more power with regard to developing policies and

measures for excluded groups in conjunction with a voluntarily initiated network among

cities in the area of homelessness, habitact. Then, the municipality had to save 30% of its

budget which was the factor that directly initiated the development of the homelessness

strategy.

4.3 Pensions and health care and care for the elderly: sticky national institutional legacies

and domestically salient issues.

There are on-going reforms in pensions and health care in Denmark (Kvist and Greve, 2011),

to which the OMC could easily contribute in terms of ideas and exchange of experiences

with other countries. While in the period prior to 2006, the pensions OMC was

characterized by an interaction between social and economic ministries (and DGs in the

Commission, as well as Economic and social council formations), this was no longer the case

after the streamlining. After streamlining, the presentation of national objectives in the

pensions OMC has been written by the Ministry of Social Affairs alone. The social adequacy

strand of the pensions OMC was not known outside of the restrained number of civil

servants working with it. On the other hand, concerns with the financial sustainability of

public finances has been on the agenda of Finance ministries due to pressure via DG ECfin

and The Ecofin council. European pressure and ideational as well as political influence

occurs through the NRP process. Since the 2008 financial crisis, a variety of other

instruments and agreements have been developed, not least the European pact aimed at

reducing public debt, involving close surveillance of member states policies, and coercive

recommendations and “memoranda of understanding” in the case of non-compliance. The

austerity agenda, which forces member states to curb public debt.

It is the agenda focused on financial sustainability and reducing public debt which has been

one of the factors leading to the decision to reform early retirement and to encourage a

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higher employment rate. It is this agenda that has had an indirect impact on the position of

the Danish employers organization, who at first, considered population ageing as a Danish

challenge, but then realized that it was a European challenge, where exchanges of ideas on

policy challenges and solution is considered by them to be invaluable. An expert has pointed

out that “In 1995 there was perhaps one Danish report on Active Aging. Now the case is

very different, where there has been much focus on this aspect, much to do with the focus

the EU brought upon the matter” (interview ASISP). The employers have learned about

active ageing through BusinessEurope. The regions representative we talked to also

highlighted that the issue of active aging in Denmark was linked to issues discussed at the

EU level, but through the EES and the concern with sustainability of public finances, and not

through the social OMC (interview regions 1). In June 2010, Denmark received a

recommendation, stating that Denmark should consolidate its public finances through a

careful and targeted strategy between 2010 to 2013. As stated by an official in the Ministry

of Finance: “We have to deliver the NRP (on the basis of EU2020) in November. For the first

time, national policy making in the social area may be influenced to an extent which has not

been seen before because Denmark is being watched closely with regard to public finances”

(interview MF, 2010).

In the area of health care, the MHP stated directly that the social OMC has no impact at all,

and that they find data and exchange of experiences through the OECD more useful

(interviews MHP). Health care is the area where the OMC and related processes have the

least influence, ideationally and in terms of policy. Regional health care policy actors are not

aware of the OMC; however, they are aware of EU legal standards for upholding

specialization in a hospital (interview regional politician). For pensions as well as health care

and care for the elderly, both the 2006 and 2008 reports described general responsibilities

according to Denmark’s structural reform, but did not report on specific resources and

responsibilities for more targeted actions.

5. Discussion: the social OMC in the aftermath of 2010

The EU has agreed to reduce the number of people at the risk of poverty by 20 million by

2020. In this regard, all member states have national poverty reduction targets. Denmarks’

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poverty reduction target for 2020 is to reduce the number of people at the risk of poverty

by 22,000. The Danish government aims to reach this objective by encouraging the

households with low work intensity to enter the labour market or to increase their

education levels. The government document presents this as being “… a continuation of the

Danish government’s ambition of creating equal opportunities for all.” (Danish national

reform programme 2011: 32) There are 374,000 people living in households with low work

intensity, including individuals on early retirement (84,000), individuals on social assistance

or unemployment benefits (62,400), but also people who have no entitlements, who are

self-supporting (46,600) and other groups. Given the extent of this group, the target does

not seem so ambitious. In addition, the section on poverty reduction is framed with

reference to the existing model and situation in Denmark “Prevention and combating

poverty have been key priorities of the Danish government for many years. Denmark is

presently one of the European countries with the lowest income inequality and the lowest

number of people at the risk of poverty“ (Danish national reform programme 2011: 32-33).

In sum, poverty is to a great extent framed as a non-problem in the Danish NRP, where the

solution is through education and labour market participation. On the other hand, a

committee has been established to agree upon a definition of poverty, and to discuss how

to combat it. Also, activities continue around the issues of homelessness and trafficking,

which have emerged in Denmark recently and have been put on the agenda due to the

OMC. This means that once the OMC has entered the domestic debate, it stimulates activity

there, independently of the OMC. IT is also worth underlining that it is NGOs that have

particularly been active in these areas.

6. Conclusion

The purpose of this paper has been to provide an in-depth analysis of the social OMC in the

Danish context from 2006-2010 in which I investigated whether and if so, through which

mechanisms and with what effect the social OMC had an effect.

The idea of poverty as a concept has traditionally been resisted by Denmark. Despite this,

the issue of poverty has, through policy diffusion, entered the public debate, with the

conservative and liberal parties rejecting its relevance, and the social-democratic and

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socialist parties supporting the measurement of poverty. This has endured beyond the

European year for combating poverty (2010), which contributed to raising and maintaining

the issue of poverty on the agenda. A committee has been established to set an official at

risk of poverty of threshold in Denmark. The discussion thus far is still about how to

measure poverty and not about how to combat it.

Civil servants do not see the OMC as an instrument through which to set policy. However,

the civil servants do see the OMC as an instrument for learning (obtaining new information)

for specific instances where Denmark has problems, such as homelessness. The civil society

organisations, in particular the larger NGOs with affiliation to EU-level umbrella

organizations and social partners, use the OMC for learning (homelessness, trafficking of

women) and for bargaining (poverty is a problem that should be addressed and the work-

first approach is not sufficient). The vocabulary of the OMC is now constantly used to

bargain preferences vis-a-vis government, although this is not always taken into account in

policy decisions, reflected, for example in the most recent NRP. The NGOs see the EU level

fora as a way to learn about EU level concepts and issues, and use this vocabulary and the

OMC process as a political opportunity structure. They use it for trying to set the agenda,

and to try to influence policy decisions.

The EU level peer reviews are instrumentally used for learning about specific initiatives and

strategies by civil servants and by civil society organizations. While the core OMC process is

conceived differently by civil servants and civil society, the peer review is seen in a quite

similar way by both sets of actors. The examples of different countries are taken on board

and used for reflecting upon the Danish situation and solution. The set of actors involved is

small-scale but very engaged.

Concerning reflexive learning, that is using the OMC process to reflect upon emerging

problems in Denmark, this has been used in a very limited way by governmental actors. The

NSR is used to present how Denmark is pursuing action in line with its institutional model

and tradition. Civil society and other actors, on the other hand, use the data produced

through the OMC to try to first, identify issues in Denmark (framing poverty and exclusion)

and to try to gain attention to particular issues not only in the NSR, but in other reports.

While it is not only the OMC that has contributed to this process, the OMC is part and parcel

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of the instruments which are drawn on in analyzing the Danish model and how the situation

is evolving as a result of the financial crisis.

In sum, this case study has shown that the OMC is capable of conceptualizing poverty and

exclusion problems, and it is (at times and for specific issues) a useful instrument for

learning. Although the institutional legacies (and beliefs in these legacies) are very

dominant, the OMC has put certain issues into the public arena. The political will to address

them, however, is weak.

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5. List of Interview Partners (October 2010 through January 2011)

Abbreviation

Institution (number of interviewed persons in parentheses

MSW Ministry of Social Welfare (4)

ML Ministry of Labour (1)

MF Ministry of Finance (1)

MHP Ministry of Health and Prevention (2)

NGO 1 European Anti-Poverty Network Denmark (1)

NGO 2 Joint Council for Child Issues (1)

NGO 3 Forening Nydansker (1)

NGO 4 Ældresagen (1)

NGO 5 SAND (1)

NGO 6 Red Cross (1)

ASISP ASISP expert (1)

CASA CASA (1)

CDO Country Desk Officer, European Commission (1)

LO Landsorganisation (2)

DA Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (1)

RegSyd Region of Southern Denmark (1)

Mod 1 Municipality of Odense (2)

MHt Municipality of Høje Taastrup

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Jou Journalist

RegPNJ Regional Politician North Jutland (1)

Dreg EU representative of the Danish regions (1)

SFI Expert SFI

AE Expert AE

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Bibliography (to be completed)