Inside Europe’s Sausage Factory

Policymakers say the emphasis is on better—not more—legislation. The 10 countries admitted to the union in 2004 also seem to have a more pragmatic view of the EU's role, and a larger union is less susceptible to ruling by diktat. "With 27 member states it's impossible to say that 'nanny knows best'," says one veteran EU staffer. The referenda of 2005, in which French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU Constitution, also served as a wake-up call to the folks in Brussels striving for some grand European ideal supposedly embodied in the document. "They were forced to look into the mirror to say 'Who are we?' and 'What are we doing?'" says Derk-Jan Eppink, a former EU staffer and author of "Life of a European Mandarin," a critical account of his experiences there. One answer might be "too much." Indeed for years it has seemed that the business of Brussels bureaucrats is bureaucracy.

© 2007