This chapter focuses on the European Semester and its yearly cycle of policy coordination of fiscal and macroeconomic policies within the European Union (EU). It traces the shifts that occurred through the first codification of the European Semester in 2011, and up to 2018, from softer to more binding procedures, which set the EU agenda well beyond macroeconomic and fiscal policy. Focusing on the European Semester's pushing and pulling mechanisms, the chapter argues these have spillover effects also on Europe's lifelong learning markets. [For the complete volume, "Europe's Lifelong Learning Markets, Governance and Policy: Using an Instruments Approach. Palgrave Studies in Adult Education and Lifelong Learning," see ED616323.]