Looking forward or harking back? The Commission and the reform of governance in the European Union

The White Paper on European Governance can be seen as a bid to make a major contribution to the strategic leadership of the Union. By centring its deliberations and proposals on the concept of 'governance', the Commission signalled an intention to explore the limits of conventional hierarchical law and policy, and propose alternatives. Yet the White Paper concludes that a renewed and reinvigorated 'Community method' should be at the heart of EU policy-making, with the Commission itself playing an enhanced role. Moreover, the paper criticizes the Member States and 'intergovernmental' institutions, rather than the Commission itself. These features are neither good politics nor a full response to the questions raised by the White Paper or set for it by Prodi. Enlargement and the increased importance of the issues of (re)distribution and related emergence of new modes of governance, such as the open method of co-ordination, pose challenges and provide opportunities for the Commission and the Union more generally. A White Paper that was both more modest and self-confident about the part to be played by the Commission might have made a more important intervention in current debate.