It is possible to draw important lessons from the last 15 years that saw the attempt to build a significant layer of «Social Europe», from the first initiatives in the very early 1990s. The near collapse of this dynamics was triggered by the double rejection of the project for a constitutional treaty in the Netherlands and France. But this failed attempt at adopting a constitution has much deeper cultural and political roots. In the absence of the «social» dynamics, the substance of the discourse of coordination at Eu level has quickly reversed back to good and solid mainstream «economicism» while perfunctory service was paid to the necessity of «better communication». The fundamental conditions that brought the refusal from voters in France and the Netherlands can be seen as «cultural». This opens up a research programme where the status of a «missing variable», culture, could be considered anew, with its role enhanced in comparative welfare state literature. only subscribers can see the full article