In the mid-1990s, EU member states decided to coordinate their national employment policies through a common European Employment Strategy (EES). Building on a systematic comparative study of four member states, the author argues that the strategy has influenced the member states' employment policies to varying degrees, but that the impact, generally speaking, has been limited. In the article, the author examines the impact of the strategy as a result of `pressure' and key actors' strategic use of the strategy, and shows how these mechanisms work. Factors that can explain why a greater impact is found in Poland and Spain than is found in Denmark and the United Kingdom include: non-compliance with the EES predating the introduction of the strategy; relatively weak labour market performance; the lack of consensus among the main actors in the labour market; Europeanization; and strong economic or political dependence on the EU. Further, the author argues that the EES revisions in 2003 and 2005 have not increased the degree of impact, which instead seems to be diminishing.
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