Research project AM/06/012 (Research action AM)
Belgium, just like all the other Member States, is obliged to adhere to the European treaties as well as transpose and ensure the practical enforcement of European legislation. Above all with regard to European directives, however, the process fails on a relatively frequent basis. What we appear to have here is what might be dubbed the ‘Belgian integration paradox’: for more than forty years, the Belgian government has been a major advocate of far-reaching, supranational European co-operation, yet appears at the same time to be insufficiently capable of transposing the European agreements that are being reached into national rules. The present federal government has recognised this and appointed a government commissioner, who is expected to help eliminate the backlog. Even more importantly than rectifying the current situation, however, is the implementation of structural reforms aimed at a sustainable, smooth and correct transposition of European directives. These structural reforms may be inserted within the programme for the modernisation of the workings of government.
OBJECTIVES
The Antwerp part of the project will use an international comparative study to investigate factors that may be behind the failures and successes of processes of change. Based on these factors, policy suggestions will be formulated that may improve Belgian structural performance in terms of the transposition of European directives. Initial results from the previous study by the research team have pointed towards four connected clusters of factors. The policy suggestions therefore will be aimed at these four clusters, namely:
1) What structural institutional adjustments are necessary in relation to the procedures, mechanisms and bodies involved in the preparation and transposition of European policy in Belgium?
2) What cultural adjustments (inclusive of knowledge) should be encouraged for the various categories of actors involved in the preparation and transposition of European policy in Belgium?
3) What improvements might be made in the area of communication structures between all actors involved in the preparation and transposition of European policy in Belgium?
4) What adjustments at the European level might be suggested in order to supplement Belgian efforts?
The ultimate aim will be to communicate these suggestions to the authorities involved in order to make structural improvements to Belgium’s implementation ratio and place the country in the leading group of Member States in terms of meeting European obligations.
Omzetting, toepassing en toepassingscontrole van het Europees beleid in België. Naar een structurele toepassing van de wijze waarop België zijn Europese verplichtingen nakomt : succes- en faalfactoren van het omzettingsproces van Europese richtlijnen in comparatief perspectief : België, Duitsland, Oostenrijk, Nederland en Denemarken
Dierickx, Guido - Bursens, Peter - Helsen, Sarah Gent : Academia Press, 2003 (PB5929)
Omzetting, toepassing en toepassingscontrole van het Europees beleid in België. Naar een structurele toepassing van de wijze waarop België zijn Europese verplichtingen nakomt : samenvatting
Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2004 (SP1368)
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