Abstract
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During the EU accession negotiations, public administration reform (PAR) was an important element of the administrative conditionality raised against the Central and Eastern Europe. This policy area was coupled with justice reforms and became a central point of the reform measures the region in question experienced just before the accession.
Building on those specific national experiences, our research makes a thorough analysis of the Central and Eastern European Public Administration (PA) reforms as developed after the EU accession. Taking into account the particular character of the EU Eastern enlargement, separating the region in two waves of accession, our research comprises two parts: one dealing with the presumed leading reformers (the countries that became Member States in 2004, e.g. the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), and one dedicated to the so called laggards (Bulgaria and Romania, members of the EU from 2007). The central question to be addressed in both parts is: to what extent and in which way did the reforms in PA continued after the accession to the EU? Here, however, we attempt to answer the above question for the countries of the first wave of accession, the leading reformers.
Three theoretical approaches concerning reform provide the lenses for analysis, namely modernization (Goetz 2001), Europeanization (Grabbe 2001) and policy transfer (Radaelli 2000). The first is focused on political institutions, the second concentrates upon the adoption of the acquis communautaire, and the third deals with the cooperation processes outside (or beside) the EU framework. These streams formulate different questions, operationalize in different ways, and make different assumptions about the way reform process develops.
Taking them into account, the central question of our research is rephrased as follows: a) “To what extent does the EU accession mean that the transition process of the region is finished?” (the transition perspective); b) “To what extent will reforms be continued in the region after the EU accession?” (the Europeanization perspective), and c) “When have the local institutions in the region learned enough in order to provide the job to be done at the expected standards?” (policy transfer perspective).
This article attempts to investigate the Europeanization perspective and in doing so, it focuses on the following areas: local government, administrative capacity, and absorption of EU funds. A document analysis will be conducted, with data extracted from legislation, monitoring reports, and available statistical information.
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