The European Union Review 

L’interdépendance entre la gouvernance européenne et la gouvernance globale

Mario Telò - Université Libre de Brusselles, IEE, Belgium

European studies do combine three scientific approaches to understand the EU contribution to global governance: firstly, the « bottom-up approach », namely, the internal EU governance as a laboratory and, when successful, a possible model of global governance; secondly, « the top-down » one, that is the external impact of exogenous factors linked to the international economic and political system; thirdly, the comparative research on the different and evolving patterns of regional integration elsewhere within the globalised world. The Commission July 2001 « White paper on European Governance » focuses on the first one and provides practical proposals based on the principles of good governance and increasing institutional consistency. However, the dramatically changing international system pushes to further developments as policy recommendation is concerned, taking more into account the results of multidisciplinary research on the evolving interaction between the unstable global environment and the external relations of the EU, its growing international responsibilities, and its enhanced political role.