Employment as a priority in the European Union: Analysis of the strategies and objectives at the European, national and regional level to combat unemployment in Spain

This dissertation analyzes how and why the "European employment policy" has been developed and how its development has affected the distribution of competencies at the European, national, and regional levels and in other areas of social policy. The thesis contends that the European Union (EU), in trying to solve the problem of unemployment, has created two phenomena. First, the effort to forge an employment policy has created additional competencies for the EU, and, second, it has advanced the social agenda. The research was conducted at two levels. The first involved analyzing European, national (focusing on Spain), and regional documentation, and the second consisted of personal interviews with officials responsible for labor affairs to gain an in-depth understanding of employment issues and policies in Europe. This dissertation provides a systematic analysis of the EUs response to unemployment. The analysis includes the measures taken by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union and the results achieved in the field of employment by negotiations at intergovernmental conferences and summits of heads of state. The dissertation also examines how the employment and social policy objectives and strategies of the EU are translated at the national and regional levels.