Europeanization and public administration reform in old and new European Union member states:Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic and Romania in comparative perspective.

Abstract

The Europeanization process plays a key role in the transformation of the domestic systems of governance. The national administrations of both old and new European Union member states are expected to harmonise their legal systems, functions, procedures and standards, according to the EU acquis communautaire. However, unlike most political and socioeconomic aspects, there is no acquis chapter on public administration. That is why it is extremely hard to draw a clear distinction between the effects of membership of the EU and those of other concurrent developments upon national administrations. This paper attempts to examine to what extend national administration reform in old and new EU member states can be attributed to EU membership, taking as case studies two old EU member states, Greece and Portugal and two new EU member states, Czech Republic and Romania in comparative perspective. However, in view that domestic institutions and especially specific features of the pre-existing institutional infrastructure matter for adaptation, it seems that there is little chance that European integration will lead to the emergence of a uniform model of public administration amongst EU member states.