AbstractsEconomics

The ever closing Union of the EU has through the years facilitated an increased integration of its member states’ economies to a degree, where there is now a host of programs and tools for a system of economic governance regulated by the EU through the European Semester. This thesis examines the European Semester in a Danish context in order to determine the EU’s success in shaping the socioeconomic agenda in Denmark, by utilizing the tools of coordination made available in the Semester. Since interest organizations plays a vital part in the legislative procedure in Denmark, these external actors are included in the assessment in order to discover their role in the process of the European Semester , and whether or not the process can be seen as successful in terms of legitimacy and effectiveness. The theory of New Institutionalism is used to systematically uncover and categorize actor’s preferences and the institution of the European semester under the framework of Europeanization. In order to examine the actor preferences two types of New Institutionalism are use; Rational Choice Institutionalism and Sociological Institutionalism. It is concluded that the EU is partially successful in shaping the socioeconomic agenda in Denmark, as the Semester informally provides access points and a norm of compliance, but formally lacks coercion.