Worldview: 'There is no single European model. For all their shared values and principles, there are differences between the member states, as reflected, for example, in the levels of public spending and scale of welfare benefits." With those words José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, relaunched its political agenda this week in Brussels.
Prosperity, solidarity and security are its watchwords after a commission policy seminar. The commission's work over the last year was interrupted by the row with the European Parliament and then by the voting down of the EU's constitution in France and the Netherlands. Thus it has effectively had only six months to bond together - a difficult task after enlargement and the political shift towards the centre right which Barroso and his team represent.
As a result there has been a sense of drift, fragmentation and lack of leadership.
Barroso says the constitution will not come into being in the near future - a regrettable fact of political life which should be recognised as other agendas are tackled. He insists that globalisation must be engaged and managed, not rejected.
He welcomes the emphasis put by the British presidency on reviving the EU's Lisbon agenda of growth and jobs, harnessed to a discussion about how Europe's social model can be sustained and developed.
Competitiveness is the key to prosperity, he maintains. This necessarily comes before the other elements of the policy triangle, solidarity and security.
Political debate between left and right hinges on which of these should have priority, as we have seen in the German elections and the French referendum campaign. Barroso knows he has to work with the member states on economic reform, given the limited power of the commission.
It is a risky business, because this makes him subject to their willingness to co-operate.
There is a tension between ends and means built into the Lisbon process, since it is pursued inter-governmentally by using best examples, rather than by the community method of majority voting which drove the single European market reforms in the 1980s.
At a series of briefings in Brussels this week for Irish journalists, we heard how it is planned to harness these priorities to demonstrate that effective policies can make a real difference to citizens' lives, whether on growth and jobs, social protection, the environment, international development or justice and home affairs.
Many of these coincide with citizens' views of what European integration should do. But commission officials underline how important it is to get agreement on the budgetary guidelines for the period 2007-13. The cuts made to the commission proposals, if maintained, will undermine transfers to the new member states, R&D programmes, trans-European networks and funding external action, substantially reducing their effectiveness.
Barroso and his officials insist there is no one European social model. Polarised debate between supposedly uncompetitive and sclerotic continental social protection and savage Anglo-American capitalism vastly over-simplifies. From the recent outpouring of research on the subject there are at least four relevant models among the EU15, which replicate and overlap with one another and with those developing in the new member states, the EU10.
In a paper presented to the recent informal Ecofin ministers meeting in Manchester, Belgian economist Prof André Sapir argues that two axes - greater and lesser social equity, and higher and lower economic efficiency - distinguish four groups among the EU 15's capitalist democracies (available at www.bruegel.org). Equity depends mainly on the inclusivity of their secondary education and the generosity of their redistribution systems, while efficiency is determined by labour market flexibility.
The Anglo-Saxon model (Ireland, Britain and Portugal) combines high efficiency with relatively low social protection, although there is generous social assistance of last resort to people of working age. Unions are weak and labour markets relatively unregulated.
The continental or Rhineland model (Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg) relies on social insurance for the unemployed and pensioners. Employment protection and unions are stronger, but economic performance has been weaker.
The Mediterranean model (Greece, Spain and Italy) puts most emphasis on public pensions and early retirement, while heavy regulation protects and lowers employment. Both equity and efficiency are low.
Finally, the Nordic model is strong on social protection and universal welfare provision based on comparatively high taxation. To compensate for unregulated labour markets there are "active" labour market policies organised by strong union-employer institutions.
These models provide a more coherent framework within which to consider social and economic policy than the Anglo-Saxon/European or Boston/Berlin polarities beloved of right-wing economists, media and political parties in Ireland. They could be used to generate a more informed debate.
In particular, the Nordic model holds out several promising prospects from the Irish point of view. Its elements are explored in another report (available at www.TheEPC.be).
The high social protection, taxation, competitiveness and productivity, strong public administration and labour market flexibility found variously in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway is distinctive - and attractive especially for those on lower or middle incomes.
The glimmerings of such a debate are visible in several recent reports and policy or political initiatives. A St Vincent de Paul report on social exclusion emphasises the pervasive effects of educational inequality in Ireland.
The TUI has proposed a supplementary R&D tax on corporate profits, while Roy Green suggested moving the rate of that tax up from 12.5 to 17.5 per cent in these pages yesterday to fund it. The Labour Party is keeping open the possibility of proposing a wealth tax at the next election.
And anyone who watched the Eddie Hobbs Rip Off Republic series will have been struck by the intensity with which middle-income 30-somethings stretched to the limits by the Irish model of high incomes, inequality and low public sectoral spending are looking for an alternative.
There is a gap in the Irish political market for their support. As the report points out, it is striking that taxation levels rarely figure in Nordic elections because people are for the most part satisfied they get good value for their money.