The EU policy-making in education: The Open Method of Coordination and Bologna Process

The process of integration in the area of education is determined by the scope of power granted to the EU by the Member States nad the instrument that can be used by the EU to exercise these powers. 
The area of eductation falls under the category of supportive competences of the EU (art. 6 TFEU). As a result the EU can only intervene to support, coordinate or complement the action of Member States in thie area. Consequently, it has no legislative power in these fields and may not interfere in the exercise of these competences reserved for Member States.

Thereby the mode of governance applicable is the area of education is so-called open method of coordination. The open method of co-ordination (OMC) was defined during the Lisbon Summit in 2000 as a governance mechanism for transnational co-ordination in European Union policy-making. This decions-making method involves: fixing guidelines for the Union combined with specific timetables for achieving the goals which they set in the short, medium and long terms, establishing, where appropriate, quantitative and qualitative indicators and benchmarks against the best in the world and tailored to the needs of different Member States and sectors as a means of comparing best practice, translating these European guidelines into national and regional policies by setting specific targets and adopting measures, taking into account national and regional differences and periodic monitoring, evaluation and peer review organised as mutual learning processes.

The aim of the article is to asses to what extend the area of eduction is governed by the OMC and what is the impliction of applying this mode of governance for the scope and rate of integration in this sphere.