The policy on centralised enforcement: technocratic legitimacy, special relationships and the turn from good governance

The Commission has produced two policy documents on Article 226. These documents set out the Commission’s approach to enforcement under Article 226 – how it views the mechanism and how it will operate it. The first Communication1 was produced in 2002 as a response to the good governance agenda and was foreshadowed in the Commission’s White Paper. The second Communication in 2007,2 ostensibly a response to enlargement, might be seen as a departure from its predecessor, although the Commission presents it as a continuation of its good governance approach.