Organizational learning in the EU's multi-level governance system

The European Union's (EU's) governance reform does not match the expectations of its promoters; the 'new' instruments seem to under-perform. One explanation, explored here, is that governance has been discussed without much attention to capacities at operating levels. Analyses are needed of how instruments are used and designed within the EU's multi-level administrative system. To move from governance to capacities, three interrelated levels of learning are distinguished to examine whether changes in governance are supported by developments in organizational capacities: 'governance learning', 'instrument learning' and 'organizational learning'. One hypothesis is that these need to develop simultaneously. The second hypothesis is that, in the EU's multi-level administration, learning along these dimensions has to take place in parallel at EU and national levels. This article analyses the capacities which the Commission and the Netherlands have created to support the better regulation agenda. It concludes that there is a match between the three levels of learning in the Commission but a mismatch between learning in the Commission and the Netherlands.