Handbook on European Union Public Administration

Edited by Gijs Jan Brandsma, Associate Professor of Public Administration, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, the Netherlands

‘The public administration of the European Union is particularly difficult to grasp, intellectually and empirically, due to its horizontal and vertical complexity. Brandsma and his contributors are on target with this stellar volume that turns every possible stone to unveil how the EU public administration works.’

• Contents1 Public administration in the European Union 1Gijs Jan BrandsmaPART I THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EU PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION2 The federal core of EU multilevel administration 11Eva G. Heidbreder3 New institutionalism 22Tom Delreux4 Constructivism and public administration research in the EU 34Sabine Saurugger5 Organization theory, public administration, and the study of multilevelexecutive order 45Jarle TrondalPART II INSTITUTIONS OF EU PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION6 The administration of the European Commission 64Hussein Kassim, Sara Connolly, Pierre Alayrac and Merve Uzunalioglu7 The administrative system of the European Parliament (EP): anunderstudied engine room 95Anna-Lena Högenauer and Christine Neuhold8 The General Secretariat of the Council 108Hussein Kassim and Sara Connolly9 State of the art in the study of EU agencies: the role of trust as a turning point 138Jana Gómez Díaz and Ixchel Pérez-Durán10 European Administrative Networks 155Reini Schrama, Ellen Mastenbroek and Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen11 The Court of Justice of the European Union 169Christian Adam12 The European Court of Auditors 184Paul Stephenson and Maria-Luisa Sánchez-Barrueco13 The European Ombudsman in the EU’s administrative and institutionalframework 203Nikos VogiatzisPART III POLICY PROCESSES IN EU PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION14 Agenda-setting in EU policy-making 216Sebastiaan Princen15 Impact assessments 229Jan Pollex16 Coordination in the European Commission 239Jens Blom-Hansen, Daniel Finke and Roman Senninger17 Delegated and implementing acts: rule-making by the Commission 253Gijs Jan Brandsma18 Transposition of European Union legislation 266Tiziano Zgaga and Asya Zhelyazkova19 Practical implementation of European Union policies by member stateadministrations and street-level bureaucrats 279Eva Thomann and Tiziano Zgaga20 Member states’ compliance and enforcement in the EU: concepts,drivers and future research avenues 294Asya Zhelyazkova21 Evaluations, consultations and networks: formal and informal routes forpolicy feedback? 309Pieter Zwaan, Daniel Polman and Stijn van VoorstPART IV LEGITIMACY OF EU PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION22 Better regulation 322Jan Pollex and Stijn van Voorst23 Transparency of EU public administration: harbinger of legitimacy orfig leaf for its absence? 332Maarten Hillebrandt24 The EU’s accountability landscape 344Anchrit Wille25 Responsiveness 362Christian Rauh and Reinout van der VeerIndex 377