Brussels, 23/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted a report on actions undertaken in 2003 and 2004 to improve European governance. The report tends to show that the Prodi Commission has achieved the "vast majority" (72%) of the eleven general actions it committed to in its White Paper of July 2001 (which hoped to respond to questions raised by the public authorities and the citizens on the Union's capabilities and how it acts).
The Commission judges that it has fulfilled its objectives for: -better rules; - more effective use of scientific expertise; - the definition of criteria to create new regulation agencies; -the improvement of the application and control of the application of Community law; -setting up more systematic dialogue between the Commission and European and national associations of regional and local authorities; -re-centring policies and institutions (including as part of the Constitution). The Commission also notes that certain ideas and guidelines recommended in the White Paper, such as participative democracy, have found their place in the draft Constitution Treaty.
The three actions which have not been achieved concern: the creation of broader partnership agreements in certain sectors; -a proposal (drawing from experience gained with the candidate countries) on mechanisms for twinning between national administrations to favour the sharing of best practice (in terms of applying measures in specific sectors) and raising awareness of Community law among national courts and lawyers ; -launching "contracts by objectives" to ensure that Community policies are implemented (the Commission specifies that these actions are currently being put into practice.