Europe; European Union - De politieke eenwording van Europa moet in al zijn consequenties aan de orde worden gesteld (i.t.t. de technisch-economische invalshoek) om van daaruit de mogelijkheden van een EMU te kunnen beoordelen. De resultaten van het integratieproces in de laatste 15 jaren zouden moeten worden geëvalueerd. De mogelijkheden van een verdere Europese integratie moeten worden getoetst aan de belangen van de Nederlandse samenleving op lange termijn, te weten: handhaving van de vrede, binnenlandse rechtsorde, welzijn en sociale rechtvaardigheid, participatie van de bevolking in het besluitvormingsproces.
International bureaucracy is a phenomenon peculiar to our time, but it is difficult to study: From the outside, studies remain superficial; from the inside, they can become biased. However, certain qualities of this bur'cy appear when we study the civil servants (CS's) of the various European states. Characteristic (1) is the diversity of the various groups of CS's. Each org acts independently; some CS's like those of the CECA, have legal status, while others are hired on a contractual basis. There is also diversity in treatment, in pensions, in conditions of service, & it is impossible to move from one org to another. Characteristic (2) is the uncertainty of the recruitment process: some subordinate positions & important posts are filled in advance; there is also direct recruitment at every level of employment with a consequent risk of cooptation. Furthermore, these civil servants must belong, in a predetermined proportion, to the countries of the various member nations, which of course creates difficulties of all kinds. Finally, it must be recognised that the role of this bur'cy is ill-defined. Psychol'ly, European CS's are in a difficult situation. They feel that they are uprooted, far from the country of their origin, and not part of an established hierarchical framework. Tr by J. A. Broussard from IPSA.
The amount of European level organized interest groups has dramatically increased since the Single European Act came into force in 1987. In 1995 approximately 3000 lobby-groups, employing 10.000 lobbyists, are based in Brussels. This has resulted in a complex arrangement of European interest intermediation and caused important constraints on decision making procedures and institutional actors. The first part of this article offers a discription and evaluation of this proliferation and diversification of European interest groups. It alsosuggests a classification of all European interest groups including professional lobbyists and actors that defend their interests by themselves. The second part gives a discription of the way in which both European Parliament and Commission have dealt with this proliferation and assesses the differences in approachbetween both institutions.