Expanding the European Administrative Space: Towards European Integration Beyond Enlargement?

The concept of ‘European administrative space’ (EAS) has been used to describe an increasing convergence of administrations and administrative practices at the EU level and various member states' administrations to a ‘common European model’ (Olsen, 2003: 506). Formal and informal transgovernmental networks linking together public agencies and ministries within the European Union Member States have been widely studied in the existing literature, and especially as regards to the extent they lead to a more coordinated approach to the implementation of EU law as well as to the Europeanization of administrative law and practices (Eberlein & Grande, 2005; Eberlein & Newman, 2008; Van Boetzelaer & Princen, 2012; Hobolth & Sindbjerg Martinsen, 2013; Blauberger & Rittberger, 2015; Mastenbroek; Schrama & Sindbjerg Martinsen; 2022). However, only a few studies have devoted their attention to EAS networks beyond the borders of the EU, which is unsurprising, since the participation in those networks is often limited to EU Member States/EEAS Member States. On the contrary, I argue that public administration entities of countries under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) have been increasingly integrated in the EAS. Studying twelve Twinning projects in Georgia, I demonstrate that those projects often evolve into being formal and informal transgovernmental regulatory networks after the end of the Twinning. The expansion of the EAS beyond the European Union could be, in that context, seen as an alternative to European integration for countries that do not have credible membership prospects.