The Europeanisation of national policy?

Abstract

Europeanisation has had a profound impact upon the public policy functions of the member states. However, the impact has not been uniform. Member states have lost much of the scope for independent action in some areas, such as monetary policy or trade. In others the impact has been much more fragmented: on areas such as health care or employment policy. Between these two extremes lie the majority of policy areas. In reviewing this subject matter we explore the dynamics of Europeanisation: what are the processes involved and the effects produced? We then relate the processes and effects to categories of policy in order to map the Europeanisation of public policy.