How can we approach the Commission's role as co-manager of policy
implementation? Why should we expect the Commission to be pulled into
domestic policy execution and to accumulate something like an
implementation management capacity? How should we conceptualise the
Commission's linkage with post-decision management issues? Finally, how
does the Commission's involvement in the application of EU policies, if
any, significantly change everything?
Such questions are answered in this study, which is concerned with what
may be called the implementation management capacity of the European
Commission. Simply put, this is the role the Commission plays in the
implementation of large-scale European spending programmes. While it is
true that the Commission's predominant prerogatives are to draft
legislation and facilitate bargaining, it also has a role in
post-decision policy management. This role is of increasing importance
for the emerging governance of the European Union.
Readership: social scientists, journalists and all those interested in
the role of the European Commission in shaping EU policies