Wielding Soft Power in a World of Neglect: The E uropeanization of G reek and P ortuguese Public Employment Services

The E uropeanization literature has extensively examined the influence of the E uropean employment strategy ( EES ) on M ember S tates' employment policies. However, two least‐likely cases – G reece and P ortugal – have been neglected in the literature. This article focuses on the activation of public employment services ( PES ), which has been one of the key elements of the EES . Based on a sample of 44 semi‐structured interviews and primary and secondary document research on seven reform episodes during 1995–2009, it finds that the EES altered G reek and P ortuguese employment policies by empowering policy entrepreneurs and, when the latter were absent, through E uropean Social Fund financial conditionality. While the literature considers policy learning as the chief EES ‐ E uropeanization mechanism, little evidence is found herein to support such an explanation. The findings may be relevant for a number of EU policies based on voluntarism and EU funds, such as the new flagship EU initiative E urope 2020.