Abstract
Asking the question whether the new open-method of co-ordination (OMC) is a useful innovation for EU governance, equals to asking whether today, new modes of EU governance are needed or not. If we take into account the definition of the governance from the Commission, and that we stick to the rules and processes, two basic modes of governance can be considered in the EU: the Community Method and Intergovernmentalism. The OMC is actually the third new mode of governance, created in 1997 at the Luxembourg Summit, but really codified at the Lisbon Summit in 2000. The appearance of this new method is the result of two assessments which will be explained in detail in this report.
