Much more important is the convergence of public policy and administration, Eventually this process can lead to the practical implementation of public governance as a substitute for both.

I think there is some much similarity between European countries in their orientation towards modernization of their systems of public administration. All countries of Western Europe are introducing reforms in public administration based on new managerialism, reinventing and re-engineering government. While countries of Eastern Europe are seeking to abandon their socialist public sector dominated approach and introduce the same kind of reforms including privatization, decentralisation and other reforms. They still need to do more.

Convergence lies  (implicitly) at the heart of most Europeanisation literature. As a matter of fact, if not presupposing some convergence, speaking about Europeanisation makes only limited sense because if the effect of EU integration is that we have completely diverging national changes, the determining factor for the change are the specific NATIONAL traits and NOT the EU. As the convergence assumption is so strong in the Europeanisation approaches, it happens more often than not that the emergence of convergence is - without thorough testing - assumed. Yet, most empirical evidence shows that it is NOT taking place! So, to answer the question (a) one aught to carefully separate the often dominant - implicit - theoretical assumptions and then (b) check the actual empirical evidence.

On the convergence / non convergence and Europeanisation: 

Olsen, Johan, 2003: Towards a European Administrative Space?, in: Journal of European Public Policy, 10, S. 506-531.

On the empirical evidence of non-convergence, see in particular: 

Goetz, Klaus H., 2001: European Integration and National Executives: A Cause in Search of an Effect?, in: Goetz, Klaus H./Hix, Simon (Hrsg.), Europeanised Politics? European Integration and National Systems. London: Frank Cass, S. 211-231. Goetz, Klaus H., 2006: Europäisierung der öffentlichen Verwaltung – oder europäische Verwaltung?, in: Bogumil, Jörg/Jann, Werner/Nullmeier, Frank (Hrsg.): PVS-Sonderheft 37: Politik und Verwaltung, S. 472-490.

BUT see also (with some evidence for convergence but under specific conditions):

Kassim, Hussein, 2003: Meeting the Demands of EU Membership: The Europeanization of National Administrative Systems, in: Featherstone, Kevin/Radaelli, Claudio M. (Hrsg.), The Politics of Europeanization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, S. 83-111. Knill, Christoph, 2001: The Europeanisation of National Administrations: Patterns of Institutional Change and Persistence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

FOR THE ARGUMENT ABOUT NON-CONVERGENCE AND THE CONSEQUENCES FOR EU-ADMIN RESEARCH, see: 

Heidbreder, E. G. (2011) 'Structuring the European Administrative Space: Policy Instruments of Multi-level Administration'. Journal of European Public Policy Vol. 18: 5, pp. 709–26.

 Heidbreder, E. G. (2015) 'Horizontal Capacity Pooling: Direct, Decentralised, Joint Poli-cy Execution'. In: Bauer, M. W. and Trondal, J. (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of the European Administratve System (Houndmills: Palgrave), 369-382. 3)

Heidbreder, E. G. (2014) 'Regulating Capacity Building by Stealth: Pattern and Extent of EU Involvement in Public Administration'. In: Genschel, P. and Jachtenfuchs, M. (eds.) Beyond the regulatory polity (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 145-165.

Thank you for your contribution, Ms. Heidbreder. Your suggestions are very helpful!!

You are welcome, as a PS, on administrative cultures in Europe (and beyond) that are NOT easily overcome, I would suggest: 

http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?currency=US&id=15721

and

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/tradition-and-public-administration-martin-painter/?K=9780230575660

And if you are interested more particularly in the EU and its administrative sytstem, I would very much suggest as most recent overview on the state of the art: 

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/the-palgrave-handbook-of-the-european-administrative-system-michael-w-bauer/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137339881

Cheers 

eva

I am truly grateful for the contributions of everyone, especially Eva Heidbreder.

I think we should highlight the negative impact of the economic crisis in political review of the role of public administration in different European countries.

Also corruption, many times linked to "public affairs” has generated contempt for "the public rules”.

I’m not sure if neoliberal trends really pursue efficient administration. I rather think the strategy is minimization of public administration regardless of its quality.

Perhaps we have to think about strongly related concepts as modern Administration / Transparency / Welfare Society.

Thanks for letting me to express my opinion.

Thank you all for expressing your opinions...they could contribute to a start-up for new research in the field. In this sense how can we analytically link anti-corruption measures to convergence in administrative terms?

Well ... frankly speaking this is quite expressly my area of research, yet precisely critical about the convergence assumptions. 

To reply also to R. Manzanera on the link to the "crisis politics", yes, this has had an impact on how the EU (to be precise the following actors in the Commission: DG Regio, as new actor since 2013, and the ESF people who have been active in the area since enlargement) is dealing with the issue of administrative capacities. Actually, just recently a "administrative tool box" has been published by the Commission, responsible is a certain Florian Hofmann - we have to observe, which impact this non-binding document may unfold. The Commission is hoping for an effect through the European Semester. 

The Crisis: yes, was important in this because admin. reforms are explicit part of the measures for the so-called programme countries and it is also listed in the two-pack measures. This can theoretically be linked to the debate about externally induced national change / reform, here more literature on relevant issues: 

Recently published on external conditionality regarding admins.:

- Featherstone, K. (2015) 'External Conditionality and the Debt Crisis: The ‘Troika’ and Public Administration Reform in Greece'. Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 22, No. 3, p.pp. 295-314.

- Meyer-Sahling, J.-H. and van Stolk, C. (2014) 'A Case of Partial Convergence: The Europeanization of Central Government in Central and Eastern Europe'. Public Administration, Vol. online, No. Doi 10.1111/padm.12122.

What is central in this debate: Which mechanisms trigger convergence that is indeed causally linked to the EU? These mechanisms have been discussed more excessively in the context of enlargement ....

- Dimitrova, A.L. (2002) 'Enlargement, Institution-Building and the EU’s Administrative Capacity Requirement'. West European Politics, Vol. 25, No. 4, p.pp. 171–90.

- Elbasani, A. (2009) 'EU Administrative Conditionality and Domestic Downloading: The Limits of Europeanization in Challenging Contexts'. KFG Working Paper, Vol. 2, No. July.

- Heidbreder, E.G. (2011a) The Impact of Expansion on EU Institutions: The Eastern Touch on Brussels (New York: Palgrave / Macmillan), chapter 4.

... whose effect (i.e. the EU-triggered reform effect) and sustainablity in the mid-run have, however, been strongly put into question:

- Meyer-Sahling, J.-H. (2009) 'Sustainability of Civil Service Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe Five Years after EU Accession'. SIGMA Paper: No. 44, Vol. GOV/SIGMA, No. (2009)1.

- Verheijen, A.J.G. (2007) 'Administrative Capacity in the New EU Member States: Limits of Innovation?'. World Bank Working Paper. #

- Meyer-Sahling, J.-H. and Yesikagit, K. (2011) 'Differential Legacy Effects: Three Propositions on the Impact of Administrative Traditions on Public Administration Reform in Europe East and West'. Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 18, No. 2, p.pp. 311-22. (again, what I mentioned before: the admin. traditions as significant factor that hinders externally triggered reform)

And for a general overview on EU-triggered capacity building:

Heidbreder, E.G. (2014) 'Administrative Capacities in the EU: Consequences of Multilevel Policy-Making'. In Lodge, M. and Wegrich, K. (eds.) Governance Capacities of the Contemporary State (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Thank you very much. it is very helpful!

In a study towards EU nature conservation policies we identified a number of mechanisms that influence convergence as well as divergence. I would say EU policies tend to strengthen convergence between public administration in the various member states (putting forward certain models, accounting systems and benchmarks), but the internal dynamics with the Member States (politics at different levels, path-dependencies, the interplay between formal and informal institutions, the particular couplings between politics, law and economis, etc.) do unavoidably lead to divergence. Its an evolutionary process in which the constant interplay between these different mechanisms influences how much convergence can be observed at a particular moment. 

Article Divergence and Convergence in Policy Meanings of European En...

Thank you for your notes. Your article Planning and law in evolving governance looks particularly interesting for my research.

Dear Cristina,

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Very useful!!