Implementation of the Principles of Good Governance on the National Level in the EU

Abstract

Abstract The implementation of good governance in the EU member states was investigated (by interpretation and application), considering the different functions of government bodies. Good governance as a pivotal public value in each of the member states has fundamental roots in the different phases of European history. In these phases we find aspects of the rule of law, democracy, and the institutional state developing and becoming natural dimensions of good governance, a common public value for European states. The outcome was that good governance norms developed in the member states sometimes in a general, abstract way, such as the concept of the rule of law, the notion of democracy, and the classical framework of constitutional institutions. There is, however, a tendency to specify these general dimensions of the good governance concept through principles, in some countries more than others. A principles-based development of policies in the member states was discovered, which is the key to good governance in these states. In different legal forms—constitutions, laws, policy papers, case law, and reports of ombudsmen and audit institutions—are the six specific aspects of the theoretical framework pertaining to Europe. These principles have been developed as legal principles by the (four) powers in the states of Europe, both as norms for the administration, as well as rights for citizens.