Jörg Monar – författare

The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed by the member states of the EU in 1997, and came into effect in 1999. No area of national and European policy-making will be left untouched by the framework set by the Treaty for the development of the Union. The contributors to this text examine the progress made and the deficits left by the Treaty in key policy areas and in the institutional system of the EU. They also look at its future development, in particular: the challenges posed by the next enlargement, the incomplete reform of the institutional system and the risks of fragmentation.

The European Commission has alternatively been portrayed as an all-powerful institution controlling far too many resources versus a bureaucracy that operates at the behest of Member States. In recent years the EU has been beset by major challenges coming from the inside (the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty) and the outside (the global financial crisis). How has the Commission responded to these events? Has the Commission changed substantially in terms of its institutional structure or the functions it performs? To what extent was the Commission actively promoting such changes versus accepting initiatives emanating from the Member States? This edited volume seeks to answer these questions by examining this institution and how it has performed in several major policy areas in which the Commission traditionally has been both very active and others in which its influence has been more limited. This comparative study examines the impact that the changes brought about this past decade has had on the Commission.