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Has the European Union moved towards soft governance?

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Comparative European Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

At the beginning of this century, the European Union engaged in a discussion on the necessity to shift to softer modes of governance, less detrimental for state sovereignty, which prompted lively academic debates. But how much has actually changed in the day-to-day practice has not been systematically analysed, and the severe economic and financial crisis experienced by European countries has radically changed the conditions in which EU policies are elaborated. Reviewing recent evidence, this article questions the dichotomy between old and new governance and shows that the crisis has led to a ‘hardening’ of EU regulation in key policy areas, while in others the Commission has proved to be able to use its ‘soft powers’ in ways that buttressed its influence. As a result, the shift to soft governance has not been as radical as one might have thought.

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Notes

  1. ‘Undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest or havingthe character of a revenue-producing monopoly shall be subject to the rules contained in the Treaties, in particular to the rules on competition, in so far as the application of such rules does not obstruct theperformance, in law or in fact, of the particular tasks assigned to them. The development of trade must not be affected to such an extent as would be contrary to the interests of the Union’.

  2. See Alter and Meunier-Aitsahalia (1994) on developments concerning the free movement of goods.

  3. ‘Letta: Rehn non può permettersi scetticismo sull'Italia’, La Repubblica, 3 December 2013.

  4. ‘Mais qui est Olli Rehn?’, Le Monde, 27 February 2012.

  5. Author’s translation.

  6. Euro Area Summit Statement of 29 June 2012.

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  1. Centre d’études européennes, Sciences Po, 27 rue Saint Guillaume, Paris cedex 07, F-75337, France

    Renaud Dehousse

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Dehousse, R. Has the European Union moved towards soft governance?. Comp Eur Polit 14, 20–35 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2015.7

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