Who is the Culprit for EU Regional Policy?

Abstract

Conditional Leadership: The European Commission and European Regional Policy. By Jennifer R. Wozniak Boyle Lexington Books, 2006. 304 pp., $99.00 cloth (0-7391-1480-8), $34.95 (ISBN: 0-7391-1481-6). Jennifer Boyle's Conditional Leadership: The European Commission and the European Regional Policy is a contribution to the literature on EU policymaking and the theory of European integration. Boyle's basic thesis is that the EU Commission has played a leading role in shaping EU regional policy, ensuring, to the extent possible, that it corresponds to its desires. The rationale for the book rests on Boyle's desire to dispel the existing misunderstandings of the functions of the Commission, which she calls “the most vilified” of EU institutions (p. 2) because of its clashes with national governments (particularly the UK, France, and Italy), and the common belief that the Commission has no voice in shaping EU policies. Boyle's analysis demonstrates that the image of a powerless Commission is not valid. In fact, because of its agenda-setting role and through its use of various tactics (including package deals), the Commission has been able to play a significant role in defining the content of the Union's socioeconomic cohesion policy and the instruments through which that policy is pursued. Boyle concentrates in particular on the design and subsequent reforms of the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF), in part because the ERDF reflects the degree of integration among member states …