National Implementation of EU Law and the Shaping of European Administrative Policy

This paper looks closer at the emerging European administrative policy, starting from the observation that albeit EU-driven harmonisation lacks a legal basis in Community law, it is nevertheless an unrefutable fact of national administrative policy.

ARENA Working Paper 17/2002 (html)

Hans Petter Graver

Significantly, there are no legal competencies in Community law to harmonise the public administration of Member states. Furthermore, there is as yet no policy of national public administration at the Union level. Nevertheless, European policies do have an impact on the national administrations. Legal studies have long shown that there is even a general administrative law of the EU in the making, with harmonising effects on the Member states.One of the claims of this paper is that lack of Union competencies on the field of administrative policy has not precluded the EU from drawing up measures which directly and indirectly affect the administrative policy of the Member states. The result is a Union policy on public administration not by comprehensive intent, but by default. Although a universal policy within the field is lacking, the result may be seen as a quite coherent body of principles and rules governing the administrative institutions and procedures of the member states.

Tags: implementation, administrative adaptation, law
Published Nov. 9, 2010 10:52 AM