Scoreboard for monitoring multilevel governance (MLG) at the European Union level : is the principle of MLG being encouraged throughout the EU policy cycle? : methodology, scoring and executive summary

The second edition shows that there is still room for improvement with regard to most MLG practices. The overall results are higher than in the Scoreboard 2010-2011, but this is more related to the type of policies chosen than to a better MLG performance at EU level. Although regular and adequate consultations took place with stakeholders, LRAs were not addressed specifically and transparency about the outcomes is often lacking. Only the Structural Funds stand out with regard to both consultation and stakeholders' involvement and can be used as a 'best practice'. As in the first edition, the 2011/2012 scoreboard shows that governance practices related to procedures (including information, consultation, stakeholder involvement and responsiveness) better respect (on average) the objectives of MLG than practices related to the content of the policies and the use of innovative instruments (content such as territorial approach, smart regulation mechanisms, innovative instruments for decision-making and implementation, and partnership). In the following, we briefly present the detailed scores per policy area, as well as the scoreboard comparing the four policy dossiers. The conclusions summarise the main points found, and are completed with the specific conclusions and recommendations provided in the final report for each of the analysed policies.