Abstract

The study highlights that, with respect to the process of European union, in Italy there still exists a number of critical aspects as regards overcoming the separateness between state ad society, redefining the relationships between politics and administration, and reshaping public action and its organization. The author emphasises the difficulty of the Italian administration in establishing overt contacts with interest groups. As regards the second aspect, the administration seems to ignore the political point of view of the European issues within its competence, as well as yielding to pressures and interference. As for the reshaping of public action required by participation in the process of European union, the author notes the scant attention paid by the administration to the new professional skills that this reshaping entails.