European Institute of Public Administration
EIPA Main activities New activities Summary EIPA Created in March 1981 at the time of the first European Council held in Maastricht, the European Institute of Public Administration is an establishment providing vocational training, applied research and consultancy for the public administrations of the EU Member States, the candidate countries, as well as the European Commission and other institutions and bodies of the European Union. EIPA’s objective is to contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge on EU decision-making procedures and policies, on the organization and functioning of national and regional public administrations – in particular from the perspective of their growing European dimension – and on the different components of public management. The Board of Governors, which is chaired by Henning Christophersen, former Vice-President of the European Commission and member of the Presidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe, is composed of representatives of most EU Member States (in principle the Director-General of public administration and public service of each country); in addition to the fifteen states that were already member at the time of the last enlargement of the Union, the following countries of the ten that acceded on 1 May 2004 are now represented as well: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Malta and Lithuania. Furthermore, since the reform of EIPA’s Constitution in 2001, the countries “associated” with the Institute (Bulgaria, Norway and Romania) each designate a representative who participates in the meetings of the Board of Governors in an advisory capacity.