THE COMMISSION AS IMAGE-VENUE ENTREPRENEUR IN EU SOCIAL-POLICY

The Commission is a strategically sophisticated bureaucracy with the a bility to expand its role and influence policy outcomes by acting as a n image-venue entrepreneur. In difficult economic and political condit ions, the Commission's recent strategic approach to the development of European Union (EU) social policy has been characterized by a dual ap proach. On the one hand, it has experimented with new institutional ar rangements in order to build up a policy-making framework that lessens the influence of member governments. The development of the Social Di alogue and, to a lesser extent, a Civic Dialogue has been particularly important in this respect. On the other hand, the Commission has been reshaping the dominant 'image' of EU social policy from one based on social rights to an alternative which emphasizes that social policy co ntributes to stable economic growth and job creation. Its strategic ab ility to understand the way in which policy images and institutional v enues interact affects the Commission's ability to develop and expand EU policy.