THE REFORM OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: A PUBLIC MANAGEMENT POLICY CYCLE CASE STUDY

Since the mid‐1990s during the Santer, Prodi, and Barroso presidencies, the European Commission has experienced several public management policy cycles. Included on the Barroso Commission's (2004–2008) policy agenda was the reform of internal financial control, prompted by significant irregularities in budget execution signalled repeatedly by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in its annual Declaration of Assurance (DAS) and Annual Reports. This led to a declared Barroso Commission strategic objective of achieving a ‘positive DAS' by 2009. The proposed solution was ‘integrated internal control’ based on an international reference point within the accounting and auditing professions. The result was a centrally co‐ordinated Commission project aiming to reform management and audit practices within both the Commission and EU member states. This article reports on the ‘positive DAS' and ‘integrated internal control’ policy cycle and explains its agenda‐setting, alternative‐specification, and decisional processes.     

Back to the future,forward to the past: Croatian politics of memory in the European Parliament

This paper discusses the way in which a post-conflict European Union (EU) member immediately after accession both shapes and adapts to EU memory politics as a part of its Europeanization process. I will analyze how the country responds to the top-down pressures of Europeanization in the domestic politics of memory by making proactive attempts at exporting its own politics of memory (discourses, policies, and practices) to the EU level. Drawing evidence from Croatian EU accession, I will consider how Croatian members of the European Parliament “upload” domestic memory politics to the EU level, particularly to the European Parliament. Based on the analysis of elite interviews, discourses, parliamentary duties, agenda-setting, and decision-making of Croatian MEPs from 2013 to 2016, I argue that the parliament serves both as a locus for confirmation of European identity through promotion of countries’ EU memory credentials and as a new forum for affirmation of national identity. The preservation of the “Homeland War” narrative (1991–1995) and of the “sacredness” of Vukovar as a European lieu de mémoire clearly influences the decision-making of Croatian MEPs, motivating inter-group support for policy building and remembrance practices that bridge domestic political differences.     

Visegrad: Fit for purpose?

Visegrad inter-state cooperation among the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia has faced numerous near-death experiences since its official birth in 1991. Furthermore, it has faced two challenges since the four member-countries’ accession to the EU in 2004. Then Visegrad was eulogized, considered deceased by many precisely for having achieved the apparently ultimate aim of EU membership. Second, having purposefully stated rumours of its death, Visegrad has since 2008 been confronted by issues from outside and ones well beyond its size – the Obama presidency and its apparent abandonment of Central and Eastern Europe in its “reset” strategy towards Moscow; a post-Lisbon EU agenda; strategic reorientations in NATO; and both the general, that is, global, financial crisis and particularly within the EU and regarding the Euro.This article, by contrast, contends that the fundamental changes and challenges that Visegrad has faced enhanced the Group's clear and successful strategy. It identifies and elaborates that strategy, drawing also selectively and thematically on the Group's historical experience since 1991. These strategies include targeted rather than broad selection of aims; retaining an exclusive membership while also inventing variable and flexible mechanisms for adding non-member countries to help them pursue specific initiatives. Through a study of annual Group Presidency agendas and reports, high-level and ministerial meeting declarations and media and secondary source analysis and interviews with National Coordinators, the article contends that the Group continues to promote realistic aims, and provides a unique platform for exercising them. This study concludes that Visegrad, despite the outside challenges remains effective in raising awareness, advancing smaller-scale policies and influencing EU policy towards the Western Balkans and European Partnership (EaP) countries, as well as achieving specific Visegrad initiatives with those states.     

Public Administration Education and Europeanization: Prospects for the Emancipation of a Discipline?

The twin processes of Europeanization and Transition provide significant opportunities for the development of Public Administration education in Europe and provide a possibility to further the 'emancipation' of the discipline. In terms of Europeanization, the increasing challenges of politico-administrative interaction between national administrations and the institutions of the European Union illustrate that it is essential for Public Administration graduates to acquire an informed understanding of both the European context of policy-making and of the administrative organization and culture of other member states and countries associated with the EU. As a second element, the transition process in Central and Eastern European states could provide the discipline with further impetus to search for its own identity and approach in a European context. This article reviews the key findings of the results of the comprehensive inventories undertaken by the SOCRATES Thematic Network in Public Administration with regard to the current direction in which Public Administration education in Europe is moving. It addresses whether attention to European issues is reflected in the curriculum as well as links with the profession and whether cross-fertilization between the development of new programmes in the transition states and PA academic programmes in the EU member states has actually occurred.     

Prospects for a European Identity

In several respects, the EU represents both a novel system of quasi-supranational governance and a novel form of political community or polity. But it is also a fragile construction for it remains a community still in the making with an ambiguous sense of identity and within which powerful forces are at work. This paper has three main aims: first, to stress the shifting nature of Europe??s geographical frontiers and assess whether cultural frontiers have remained more stable throughout time. In particular, it examines the main criteria, which have traditionally been employed when having to decide who should be included and excluded from Europe. A different question concerns the requirements for EU membership and the monopoly of the adjective ??European?? by the EU, which somehow has become to be identified with Europe. Second, to explore the prospects for the emergence of a European identity. Here, I argue that European identity stands as a ??non-emotional identity?? in sharp contrast with traditional forms of national identity associated with intense nationalist feelings. Third, through the analysis of the most recent Eurobarometer (annual survey of EU??s public opinion) to examine the views of Europeans regarding the EU at a time of a major global economic crisis. To conclude, the paper explores the main challenges to be faced by a still incipient European identity.     

THE EUROPEANIZATION OF HEALTH CARE GOVERNANCE: IMPLEMENTING THE MARKET IMPERATIVES OF EUROPE

The paper examines the Europeanization process and the impact of the European Union (EU) on national healthcare policies, using the example of Denmark. The analysis reveals that although health policy formally falls within the competence of member states, the impact of the EU is becoming increasingly conspicuous and has contributed to a gradual restructuring of healthcare boundaries as well as of some of its organizing principles. Furthermore, the process and impact have a de‐structuring effect on the more traditional governance tools used in relation to healthcare. The paper concludes that the EU has a significant impact and that we may be witnessing the formation of a new institutional legacy that represents the initiation of a Europeanized healthcare model: a model emerging around a new set of stakeholders, principles and structures, which includes the market, principles of free movement, patient choice and patient rights institutionalized and safeguarded by the EU.     

Tensions in the discourse and practice of the European Union's Aid for Trade

The contemporary global Aid for Trade (AfT) agenda emerged out of world trade negotiations and it could have profound implications for the future of development aid, depending on how it is interpreted. The European Union (EU) has recontextualised this global agenda to suit its own approach to trade and development; specifically a focus on regional integration, and free market but ‘pro-poor’ development models. AfT is ascribed a variety of purposes in EU texts and its use continues to adapt as the EU's trade and development policy evolves. Institutionally the AfT framework has not strongly affected EU processes, organisational structures or methodology. A study of the use of EU aid for regional integration reveals dissonance between its development relationship and its trade policies while a focus on pro-poor AfT reveals a lack of capacity. Overall, there are tensions not just between discourse and practice but between different discourses of the EU.     

Challenging the European Union: the rising powers and the USA in the Doha Round

In this article, the challenges posed to the European Union's (EU) role in trade policy and its implications for development policy during the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda, also known as the Doha round, are highlighted. The authors argue that transformed power relations have created a situation characterized by role uncertainty, for the emerging powers but also for the EU. Priorities among multiple possible roles – in the existing trade regime, in relation to the global South and in the ongoing negotiations – become subject to redefinition. For the EU, heavily wedded to a multilateralist and reformist mission because of its own history, this process is particularly difficult. The EU's traditional role conceptions as a leader and a benign partner to developing countries have been challenged and partly replaced by a more realist approach.     

Integration,functional differentiation and problem‐solving in multilevel governance

The European Union (EU) is currently facing unprecedented challenges to its problem‐solving capacity, such as those represented by pressing transnational crises and by bottom‐up criticisms towards the European integration process. Moreover, the EU is said to compensate its weak input legitimacy with an enhanced problem‐solving capacity. However, the notion of problem‐solving itself has remained remarkably vague in the multilevel governance (MLG) literature. This symposium analyses problem‐solving in different MLG settings. In this introduction, we identify procedural and operational notions of problem‐solving in MLG, and present a structural framework to guide the comparative analyses of multilevel systems along the dimensions of political integration, functional differentiation and decentralization. The contributions to the symposium illustrate how structural elements of different multilevel systems shape both the policy‐making process and the politics of problem‐solving within these systems. In doing so, they pave the way for further comparative research.     

Value-For-Money Audit for Accountability and Performance Management in Local Government in Ghana

Public sector organizations, including local government (LG) entities, continue to resort to value for money (VFM) audit to enhance performance and accountability. Based on the analysis of the consolidated reports on the annual performance-based Functional Organizational Assessment Tool (FOAT)—VFM audit—in Ghana to determine the efficacy of VFM on performance, this article argues that VFM audits constitute a significant public management tool that could enhance LG performance. However, the FOAT reports, like most VFM audits, only provide quantitative evidence, which fails to capture the qualitative or other relevant explanatory factors behind the recorded performance improvement.     

Coordinated European Governance: Self‐Organizing or Centrally Steered?

Now that it is widely accepted that the European Union (EU) constitutes a system of governance, analysts need actively to explore precisely how it may affect the continuing struggle better to coordinate national and European administrations. In its 2001 White Paper on governance, the European Commission interpreted governance to mean less central control and more network-led steering. Its interpretation of such networks is that they are self-organizing. Drawing upon an empirical study of environmental policy integration (EPI) in the EU, this article shows that this vision may not adequately fit the multi-actor, multi-level coordination challenges associated with some EU problems. By studying the administrative capacities that the European Commission and three member states have created to achieve better environmental coordination, this article shows significant administrative weaknesses. It concludes that the coordination challenges now troubling the EU require a more thoughtful discussion of network management than the White Paper suggests.     

Eu Programme Management 1977-96: A Performance Indicators Analysis

Measuring the performance of public services and programmes is now a generally accepted part of the scenery of public management. In practice, it is often honoured more in the breach than the observance owing to well-known technical and epistemological problems. In the absence of reliable performance data, normative assumptions may prevail on policy makers and managers alike which are at variance with objective reality.
The critique and attempted reform of EU programme management is often based on such assumptions. This paper attempts to provide an empirical and epistemological basis to the judgment of EU programme management by identifying appropriate performance indicators, collecting data on them from audit reports over a 20-year period and constructing a methodology for analysis. Criteria for reliable sources and the effect of intervening variables on the results are discussed.
The paper reviews the evidence of the aggregate data collected for the five major EU spending areas, and suggests some conclusions questioning both commonly held assumptions about, and models for, the reform of EU programme management.     

The Quality of Annual Reporting by Italian Museums: An International Comparison

We study the quality of disclosure and the level of accountability of Italian museums using MPADI2 index (Wei et al. 2008; Botes et al. 2013) on a sample of 13 annual reports which, given the legal status of some entities, encompasses the activity of 93 Italian public and private museums, many of which are within the most visited in Italy and worldwide. The results allow for an international comparison with the annual reports of a panel of USA, UK and European museums which have undergone the same MPADI2 analysis, giving an interesting insight about museum different disclosing practices across countries.     

TIME FOR EU MATTERS: THE EUROPEANIZATION OF DUTCH CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

To what extent does the European Union (EU) affect national governments? This article seeks to answer this question by assessing the Europeanization of Dutch central government. Using data from a large‐scale survey among civil servants, we assess to what extent the EU affects the structure and culture of governmental organizations, as well as the activities of individual civil servants. On the basis of this analysis, we conclude that the impact of the EU both on individual civil servants and on organizations in Dutch central government is two‐sided: a small core of civil servants and organizations are deeply involved in EU‐related activities and this exists alongside a much broader base of civil servants and organizations that are less affected by the EU. These differences appear more clearly on the level of daily working practices than on the level of formal organizational structures. Nevertheless, the impact of European integration on government organizations remains limited to particular organizations and particular civil servants within central government.     

EU LEGISLATION AND NATIONAL REGULATION: UNCERTAIN STEPS TOWARDS A EUROPEAN PUBLIC POLICY

The EU with its supranational powers is a unique institution. Contrary to other international organizations, it can make laws that are binding to its member governments as well as to their citizens and enterprises. However, reviewing the literature, we find little consensus as to its true role as a lawmaker. This article and the articles that follow in this symposium remedy this empirical deficiency. The present article presents a comprehensive analysis of the scope of binding EU regulation. The EU is presented as an important lawmaker. It has, with considerable effectiveness, been able to overcome recurrent crises that have often called its very viability into question. But the same analysis also reveals that the EU, in spite of several treaty reforms expanding its responsibilities into new policy areas, remains a predominantly economic regulator. Finally, EU lawmaking is to an increasing extent delegated to the European Commission, dedicated to the de facto task of maintaining the internal market. Although this article and the articles that follow it cover the present, and refer to the European Union (EU), the EU, since its creation in the 1950s, has changed its official name several times.     

Assessing the European Union's engagement with transnational policy networks on conflict-prone natural resources

Transnational policy networks (TPNs) are attracting greater scholarly interest given their impact on the contemporary conduct of international affairs. While this has been a welcome development for International Relations scholars and provided some preliminary insights, there is a need for more scholarly studies of TPNs that delve into specific issue-areas on a comparative basis. The paper addresses the above need by providing analyses of the role of European Union (EU)-based actors – the European Commission, member states, civil society organizations, and firms – in regulatory frameworks on conflict-prone natural resources such as oil, diamonds, coltan, tin, tungsten, and gold. To that end, the paper draws upon participant observations, interviews with state and non-state actors, and access to primary documents in order to provide a comparative examination of EU-based state and non-state actors within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and draft EU legislation that seeks to prevent the trade of conflict-prone minerals.     

The moral economy of EU relations with North African states: DCFTAs under the European Neighbourhood Policy

The EU has loudly voiced its intention to facilitate poverty reduction and democratisation in North Africa. In particular, it seeks to conclude Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs) with Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. These are seen as a vital response to the Arab Spring – integrating North African countries into the globalised economy. Applying a moral economy perspective, this article argues, however, that, while ‘Normative Power Europe’ seeks to build more tranquil societies in the region, its trade policies nevertheless threaten to exacerbate poverty and social unrest. The prospect of de-industrialisation in the wake of FTAs will do much to entrench economic asymmetries between the European metropole and its neighbours.     

Democratization through European integration: The case of minority rights in the Czech Republic and Romania

While scholars have tended to focus on domestic factors as most critical to the consolidation of democracy, the post-communist European Union (EU) candidate states have exhibited a unique confluence of domestic and foreign policies, due to their objective of EU membership. This article assesses and compares the impact of the EU on policy making in two diverse candidate states in their first decade of transition, focusing on minority rights protection as a fundamental requirement of both EU membership and a stable democracy. I find that the EU has played a principal role in the reform process and democratic consolidation of candidate states, even in the controversial field of minority rights. The degree and nature of the EU’s impact, however, has depended in part on the activism of the particular minority, EU interest and pressure, EU Member States’ own domestic policies, and the persistence of racism in society. Dr. Melanie H. Ram is a research associate at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University and Senior Program Officer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency USA Office. She has written extensively on European Union enlargement and democratic consolidation and reform in Central and Southeastern Europe, and is the author most recently of “Harmonizing Laws with the European Union: The Case of Intellectual Property Rights in the Czech Republic” inNorms and Nannies: The Impact of European Organizations on Central and East European States (2002). Earlier versions of this article were presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, 30 August–2 September 2001, San Francisco, CA and at “Voice or Exit: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnic Minorities in Twentieth Century Europe,” Humboldt University, Berlin, 14–16 June 2001.     

Eu Programme Management 1977‐96: A Performance Indicators Analysis

Measuring the performance of public services and programmes is now a generally accepted part of the scenery of public management. In practice, it is often honoured more in the breach than the observance owing to well‐known technical and epistemological problems. In the absence of reliable performance data, normative assumptions may prevail on policy makers and managers alike which are at variance with objective reality. The critique and attempted reform of EU programme management is often based on such assumptions. This paper attempts to provide an empirical and epistemological basis to the judgment of EU programme management by identifying appropriate performance indicators, collecting data on them from audit reports over a 20‐year period and constructing a methodology for analysis. Criteria for reliable sources and the effect of intervening variables on the results are discussed. The paper reviews the evidence of the aggregate data collected for the five major EU spending areas, and suggests some conclusions questioning both commonly held assumptions about, and models for, the reform of EU programme management.     

REPRESENTING EUROPE: THE EMERGING ‘CULTURE’ OF EU DIPLOMACY

Debate over ‘loyalty transfer’ in the European Union (EU) centres on the assumption that elite socialisation and ‘spillover’ processes lead inevitably to changes in the behaviour and identities of European officials. This article interrogates that notion by exploring how officials in the EU external delegations represent Europe. The Lisbon Treaty (2009) will transform the delegations in ways that are emblematic of the EU's evolution as a global actor. Drawing on empirical insights we examine the way EU diplomats embody the European idea and understand their role in promoting ‘the European Union interests and values around the world’. At a moment of historic transition, the article highlights some of the cultural dynamics currently transforming European diplomacy and how officials conceptualize their work of ‘delivering EU external relations policy’. We argue that Europeanization and loyalty transfer are complicated by inter‐institutional rivalries that raise problematic questions over who can best claim to ‘speak for Europe’.