Possible Methodology for Assessing Latvia’s Integration Process in the European Union

In May 2019, the 15th anniversary of Latvia’s membership in the European Union is celebrated. Apart from purely economic results, membership in the European Union undoubtedly also affects the functioning of the state public administration system. The EU encourages to maximise the rational use of human resources, ensure the efficient functioning of institutions, and provide modern, high-quality, and convenient services to the population, while reducing the administrative burden and simplifying the regulatory framework. At the same time, even after 15 years, the assessment of the impact of Latvia’s membership in the EU is rather hypothetical, since the evaluation of the actual impact of integration and joining the European Union has been largely fragmented. At this paper, the author focuses on analysing the possible methodology which can be used for assessing Latvia’s integration process in the European Union. The impact assessment method has also found its way of being applied to the process of European integration. In the context of this integration, the impact assessment aims to provide with information on the political, economic, social, and environmental impact of implementing the Community policy or certain regulations and directives. The author wants to stress that the EU integration is not the only area where impact assessment method could be applied in the public governance. This method can (and actually is) widely used for evaluation of different public policy strategies and programs. This paper deals with case research using the “comparative research on public management policy” proposed by Michael Barzelay. Its purpose is to understand the changes in public administration policy by using case studies. Barzelay suggests using one of the models—the Kingdon’s model, the Baumgartner and Jones’s model, or Levitt and March’s model allowing one to analyse the public policy-making process.