The National Co-ordination of EU Policy - 9780199248056

'All of the chapters are excellent, and a particular strength is that each follows a common format, which facilitated the cross-national comparison in the concluding chapter... this is a useful addition to the theoretical and empirical literature on European integration.' -Political StudiesThis book is the second of two volumes in which leading scholars examine the way in which EU member states co-ordinate their European policies. This second volume investigates the structures, institutions and processes put in place by national governments in Brussels. From a comparative perspective, the book assesses the responses of governments to the demands of EU membership. It offers a detailed examination of the organisation, operation and performance of permanent representations, and their role in national systems of EU policy making, and looks at the extent to which interaction within a common institutional environment has brought about convergence between national arrangements. The companion volume, published in 2000, examines the national co-ordination of EU policy at the domestic level.