EU enlargement, the clash of capitalisms and the European social model

European integration features a clash of capitalisms for the normative governance of the European political Economy between two loose coalitions: liberal and regulated capitalism. This article focuses on the impact of the 2004 European Union (EU) enlargement upon the EU's clash of capitalisms.

It does so by analysing two EU policy negotiations which relate to the European Social Model (ESM) – the revision of the Working Time Directive and Services Directive. The two case studies reveal that the 2004 new member states consistently joined the liberal coalition. The 2004 enlargement has therefore strengthened the liberal coalition within the EU's clash of capitalisms. Within the ESM this has resulted in a political stalemate and is likely to prevent future policy initiatives in the social policy field.