European governance: greater openness and participation. White Paper

This report succeeds the report adopted by the Commission in 2002. It analyses the implementation of the White Paper on European governance. The report presents a positive assessment of the implementation, in 2003 and 2004, of the actions that the Commission had committed to launch during its mandate. These actions concern the following areas: "better regulation", participation of the civil society; impact assessment, acquisition and use of scientific expertise; update and simplification of the Community acquis; regulatory agencies; improvement of the implementation of Community law and its monitoring; regional and local dimension of the Union (permanent dialogue between the Commission and local and regional authorities' associations; target-based tripartite agreements and contracts); refocusing European policies and institutions (including in the framework of the Constitution for Europe); European public sphere. The report notes that practically all the actions announced by the Commission in 2001 were carried out or are currently underway. The Commission also notes that the continuity of certain ideas and guidelines recommended by the White Paper, such as participative democracy, the dialogue with the regions and the cities, or administrative cooperation between Member States, have been taken into account in the constitutional Treaty.