The legislative role of the European Parliament

The legislative role of the European Parliament
Author: Guido Brinkel
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2001-12-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3638105849

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 69 % (good), Trinity College Dublin - The University of Dublin (Law department Trinity College Dublin), course: Introduction to European Community Law, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction When in 1952 the European Coal and Steal Community "Assembly" met for the first time it was a "relatively powerless" institution of 78 delegated representatives. When the "European Parliament" meets today, almost 50 years later, it is not only the name that has changed in the meantime, but also the size, the powers and, above all, the whole idea behind it. Especially by establishing direct elections in 1978 and establishing the co-decision procedure in 1996 the Parliament's role has changed towards a more and more influential institution. However, these were hard-won gains, reflecting the longstanding scepticism or even distaste of governments in most EEC member states for any increase of the powers of the European Parliament. Moreover, the Parliament had to struggle for years with a bad public perception (if it was perceived at all), for example that it was not more than a waste of taxpayer's money. And particularly due to this bad perception, the elections for the EP still suffer from a remarkable low participation. Nevertheless, the Parliament has become an important institution within the EU, that has to be taken seriously. In March 1999, for example, by threatening to sack the Commission and demanding an independent report on alleged fraud and lack of accountability within it, it became the moving power behind the resignation of the entire European Commission. Moreover, the EP has become a forum for speeches of many world leaders and the committees of the Parliament have produced highly influential reports. However, the new role of the EP within the EU and Europe at all is best shown in another, much more significant area, namely it's legislative competence. [...]

Organising the European Parliament

Organising the European Parliament
Author: Nikoleta Yordanova
Publisher: ECPR Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2013-06-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1907301399

The recent empowerment of the European Parliament makes this a timely study of the impact of its internal organisation on legislative politics, interest representation and democracy within the Union. Using data on all legislators and legislative proposals in the 6th parliamentary term, the book confronts alternative theories of legislative organisation in rigorous statistical analyses supported by rich interview information. The findings indicate that the internal setup and legislative output of the parliamentary committees serve the policy goals of parties in the European Parliament, and in particular the working majority party, rather than special interests or purely informational needs, which the author explains with the formal and informal parliamentary rules. As the committees advance party politics instead of particularistic policies, she concludes that legislating within the committees is positive for democracy in the European Union and raises concerns about the loss in transparency, legitimacy and accountability that the increasingly common fast-track bicameral decision-making outside the committees entails.

Parliamentary Administrations in the European Union

Parliamentary Administrations in the European Union
Author: Anna-Lena Högenauer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137596260

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the role of parliamentary administrations in the control of European Union policy-making. It questions whether the decision to give parliaments greater powers in the aftermath of the Lisbon Treaty had only the intended effect of political debate on European policies, or whether it has also resulted in the bureaucratisation of parliaments. The authors argue that the challenges of information-management faced by parliaments lead them to delegate an extensive set of tasks to their administrations. They offer a broad empirical picture, analysing the challenges faced by national parliaments and the role and response of their administrations in the case of the European Parliament, national parliaments and regional parliaments. In addition, the book studies the interaction between different administrations and their contribution to interparliamentary cooperation. It presents a new and different perspective on the challenges and dynamics of multi-level parliamentarism.

The European Parliament in Times of EU Crisis

The European Parliament in Times of EU Crisis
Author: Olivier Costa
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 475
Release: 2018-11-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319973916

This book assesses the many changes that have occurred within the European Parliament and in its external relations since the Lisbon treaty (2009) and the last European elections (2014). It is undoubtedly the institution that has evolved the most since the 1950s. Despite the many crises experienced by European integration in the last years, the Parliament is still undergoing important changes in its formal competences, its influence on policy-making, its relations with other EU institutions, its internal organisation and its internal political dynamics. Every contribution deals with the most recent aspects of these evolutions and addresses overlooked topics, providing an overview of the current state of play which challenges the mainstream intergovernmental approach of the EU. This project results from research conducted at the Department of European Political and Governance Studies of the College of Europe. Individual research of several policy analysts of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) have contributed to this endeavour.

Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU

Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU
Author: Adam Cygan
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2013
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1782548653

It was a great pleasure to find such a rich analysis of the role of national parliaments in the EU. What I particularly like - and what proves to be particularly fruitful is the combination of perspectives; the EU law and national constitutional perspective including a comparative dimension, the perspective that explains the role of national parliaments in the EU from past to present (and even near future) and last but not least, the perspective of the interaction between the legal frameworks and the political reality. There is every reason to congratulate Adam Cygan wholeheartedly on this book. Ton Van Den Brink, Europa Instituut Utrecht, The Netherlands One of the most outstanding specialists on the role of national parliaments in the EU has produced another impressive book about this dynamic topic. It provides an illuminating overview of current practices, it sharply analyses the legal status quo, and it brings theoretical depth to the topic in multiple perspectives. Olaf Tans, Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands This accessible and detailed book takes an interdisciplinary approach in exploring the position of national parliaments in the EU polity and in particular their position within the EU governance framework. Adam Cygan analyses the impact of subsidiarity monitoring upon national parliaments and to what extent this provides new opportunities for national parliaments to be engaged in, and exert influence over, the EU legislative process. While the post-Lisbon position of national parliaments may have improved, this book questions whether national parliaments can really be considered as central actors in EU affairs. The author also queries whether subsidiarity monitoring has the capacity to create a collective bloc of horizontal actors which exert effective accountability over the EU legislative process. Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU will strongly appeal to academics, parliamentarians/parliamentary officials working in EU affairs, as well as EU civil servants.

The European Parliament

The European Parliament
Author: Bernard Steunenberg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2002
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780742501263

Exploring the European Union's 'democratic deficit,' this book traces the halting development of parliamentary democracy at the European level. Arguing that the key actor in this crucial process is the European Parliament, the contributors concentrate on two of the classic functions of a parliament: the legislative and the representative. The contributors analyze the ongoing tensions between party orientations and national loyalties, between national parties and European party groups, and between representatives at the national and regional level. Visit our website for sample chapters!

The European Parliament

The European Parliament
Author: Ariadna Ripoll Servent
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2017-11-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137407093

This broad-ranging text examines the political dynamic of the European Parliament (EP), showing how the EP is a key component of the political system of the EU. It looks at how, and how effectively, the parliament translates citizen demands into policies, and, in so doing, contributes to wider debates around democracy and legitimacy in the EU.

Executive-legislative (Im)balance in the European Union

Executive-legislative (Im)balance in the European Union
Author: Diane Fromage
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2021-02-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509930027

Ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic? The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later the contributions to this edited volume examine – for the first time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective – whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an 'admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon'. This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU's democratic quality.

Legislative Codecision in the European Union

Legislative Codecision in the European Union
Author: Anne Rasmussen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351560433

This volume takes stock of twenty years of practising and studying codecision in the European Union (EU) and examines the procedure?s long-term implications for the EU?s institutions, politics and policies. The introduction of co-legislation between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament in 1993 raised the prospect of increased parliamentary involvement in EU decision-making and promised a new era of more transparent, inclusive and accountable policy-making. This collection draws together contributions from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives in order to analyse the extent to which codecision has delivered the expected gains and to review the unexpected effects that have followed from its introduction, such as the growing informalisation of EU decision-making. Using a combination of in-depth qualitative case studies, wider quantitative analyses, practitioners? insights and a review of the procedure?s democratic legitimacy the contributions offer a holistic assessment of the effect of co-decision on the political system of the EU.This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Parliamentary Oversight of the Executives

Parliamentary Oversight of the Executives
Author: Elena Griglio
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-10-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509925708

Oversight of executives has always been a key function of parliaments and one that is central to developing the relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. However, in reality governments are taking a more pronounced role in controlling legislation, diluting the influence of parliament. This book plots this trend in parliaments across Europe, to illustrate points of convergence and divergence. In so doing, it suggest tools and methods that parliaments can develop to bolster their crucial oversight role.