Learning and steering: changing implementation patterns and the Greek central government

Greece is frequently characterized as a laggard in the implementation of EU policy. This article examines the key characteristics of the Greek central government and links them to patterns of policy implementation. However, governments, like all organizations, have the capacity to learn. Thus, implementation patterns change over time. Observations and inferences from experience matched by the acquisition of new techniques and critical events help to improve the implementation of EU public policy. This is demonstrated bymeans of a case study (public procurement policy).