France

This chapter presents the first country case. The French example is illuminating because the EU procedural mandates were transposed into a policymaking environment traditionally described as “statist” and suspicious toward interest groups. This pattern has its origins in the French Revolution and the “republican” perception of the state which would squarely oppose the deliberative-participatory model of chapter 1. Chapter 3 examines how the EU push for new mechanisms of public accountability has translated into institutional practice in the electronic communications sector. It situates these developments in the historical context of the evolution of the French administrative model and state-society relations. It also discusses whether these new processes may gradually give rise to a different perception of the administrative state, one that will be more open to participatory influences in all sectors of administrative policymaking.