TY - JOUR A1 - Cova, Joshua T1 - Reconsidering the drivers of country-specific recommendations: The Commission's ideological preferences on wage policies JF - European Union Politics N2 - As part of the European Semester, the European Commission issues country-specific recommendations for all member states. I contribute to the literature on this political instrument, by considering the determinants of recommendations calling for greater wage moderation and enhanced cost competitiveness. For the most part, research on European economic governance has either understood the European Commission as a politicized and ‘ideological’ institution or as a de-politicized, technocratic actor. My analysis shows that the European Commission's ideological preferences on labour markets and wage bargaining institutions are more convincing predictors than explanations based on economic indicators. By testing a series of multilevel models, I find that irrespective of developments in competitiveness, countries with stronger social actors are more likely to be recipients of country-specific recommendations calling for wage restraint. KW - Country-specific recommendations KW - European Commission KW - European Semester KW - wage‐setting Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/14651165221102696 ER -