UACES Sponsored Conference 0433

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The Reform of EU Management: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Aston, Birmingham, 2 July 2004

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This conference focuses on the progress of the Commission's White Paper of 2000 on administrative and managerial reform following the resignation crisis of 1999. The programme of speakers draws together specialist academics and senior practitioners including Commissioner Neil Kinnock, the principal architect and implementer of the reforms. It will cover the general and specific areas of the reform including financial and HR management. Sessions will review and evaluate the reforms to date and their future prospects. The conference papers will be collected together in a special issue of 'Public Policy and Administration'. The conference will be of interest to a constituency of UACES members, practitioners and academics in the related disciplines of public administration/management and political science.

Other speakers include Hussein Kassim (Birkbeck College), Michelle Cini (University of Bristol), Brian Gray (European Commission), David Bearfield (European Commission) and David Spence (European Commission). Finally Les Metcalfe (Bocconi University, Italy) will speak on the management of EU programmes in the 21st century.

Contact: Prof Roger Levy, Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University (T: +44 141 331 3409, r.levy@gcal.ac.uk) or Prof Anne Stevens, University of Aston (T: +44 121 359 3611 x5464, a.f.stevens@aston.ac.uk)

Programme (200kb PDF file)

Conference Report - 'Kinnock Revolution Firmly on Track'

Addressing a mixed audience of academics and practitioners at Aston University recently, Commission Vice President Neil Kinnock made a powerful case for the profound and continuing change in management that has been taking place in the Commission since March 2000. In a candid 45 minute review, Commissioner Kinnock outlined how reforms to the financial, personnel and planning systems were setting new standards and changing behaviour irreversibly. It was a process he believed, that had been welcomed by the vast majority of officials working in the Commission. Speaking also from experience within the Commission’s reform unit, David Bearfield outlined the critical path of reform and the campaigns which were waged to win over the hearts and minds of officials. On the financial management side, Brian Gray from the newly created Internal Audit Service analysed the key changes to financial and planning systems which were transforming the Commission’s Directorates-General into genuine units of accountability.

From an academic perspective , Dr Michelle Cini set the reforms in the broader context of organizational culture change, and Dr Hussein Kassim reported on findings he had made from fieldwork carried out within the Commission which were supportive of the Commission’s own analysis. From a little researched area, David Spence traced the changing demands and orientations of the Commission’s external services, a particularly relevant theme given the Commission’s ever expanding responsibilities in that policy domain. Finally, Professor Les Metcalfe from Bocconi University in Milan provided a analysis of the Commission’s perspective on reform suggesting that if it is to meet the challenges of this century it should seek solutions other than those of the last. The papers from the conference will be published in a special edition of the journal ‘Public Policy and Administration’.

Prof Roger Levy (r.levy@gcal.ac.uk)
Caledonian Business School
Glasgow Caledonian University