1.1.4.1 The National Reform Programmes of Member States

The implementation of these reform programs did not happen uniformly and their effectiveness differed between the countries. Each of the member states was responsible for creating their own national reform programmes tailored to their specific economic, social/cultural and environmental situation, and along with the Integrated Guidelines.1 The National Reform Programmes are policy-making instruments which focus on implementation and results, and should be submitted every three years. The EU helped the member states with the implementation of these reforms by injecting, into each of the national economies, €350 billion of the EU structural funds, adding to an extra amount of €50 billion for research and development projects.

The EU was to monitor each of the member states’ progress in developing their National Reform Programmes and would consider making further recommendations if necessary. The European Commission reported annually about the National Reform Programmes in the Member States.2 Considering the existent differences in structures, approaches, even different cultural mindsets of the member states and in addition, the unclear purpose of the National Reform Programmes, the member states used them in different models and also for different purposes. This resulted in different levels of reform among the member states, some used them as powerful instruments of policy coordination which brought together ministries and local legislators (often for the first time) and others tended to use them as low profile reporting mechanisms.3