Abstract

In the past twenty years the organization of the European public administrations has been modified by three processes reinforced by policies for economic liberalization: the application of market principles and those of "new public management"; the influence of decisions taken at European level on national administrative principles and structures; the emergence of a conception of governance which increasingly replaces command by the state with the coordination of interests. The essay analyses the effects of these processes on competences and the consequences of European integration on the organization of central administrations. Investigation of the application of new public management principles in the Ministry of Finance, which is at present undergoing profound organization. shows the importance of traditional competences and the limited extent to which new ones have been introduced.