ABSTRACT
The negotiation of the legislative package of Cohesion policy regulations was a protracted process lasting more than two years. This was partly due to setbacks in the parallel budgetary negotiations, but also because of the inherent complexity and density of the legislative package and the need to accommodate the different interests of an enlarged group of the EU27 Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament. considerable changes were made to the Regulations during the Council negotiations, primarily motivated by Member State concerns about the prescriptiveness of the Commission's proposals and to prevent excessive competence creep' by the Commission. Nevertheless, the core principles underpinning the Commission's proposals remained intact, including important innovations in the strategic planning framework and more onerous reporting, audit and control requirements. Both supranationalist and intergovernmentalist forces shaped the negotiation process and outcomes. While a narrow focus is characteristic of theories on policy-making in EU Studies, this often gets in the way of understanding complex phenomena.
