There have been two fundamental misconceptions in implementing the plan for reforming the system of local government in Taiwan for the past ten years: one is a flattening of the hierarchical system of government, that is to say the scheme of second-level government, and the second is the expansion of the scope of government, that is to say the advocacy of the consolidation of counties and cities. The former misconception comes from the conference on national development held in 1996, held to ensure that Chen Shui-bian would retain political power; the latter comes from the partiality of political figures in the Kuomintang. Each can be attributed to indivisible issues, opposition and conflict, or the lack of common ground for compromise. This study intends to analyze the development experience of local governance of ten European Union member states in contrast to the two aforementioned political misconceptions. Grounded in a comparative method and a theoretical structure, the author hopes this study will guide Taiwan down the right path, away from misconceptions, in order to develop a plan that can be applied to the reform of Taiwan's system of local government.