Regional Parliaments Questioning EU Affairs

in Journal of Legislative Studies (2017), 23(2),

Since the Treaty of Lisbon, the desire of parliaments to adapt to their new powers has led to a new wave of Europeanization (Hefftler et al. 2015). However, the Early Warning System (EWS) and the ... [more ▼]

Since the Treaty of Lisbon, the desire of parliaments to adapt to their new powers has led to a new wave of Europeanization (Hefftler et al. 2015). However, the Early Warning System (EWS) and the Political Dialogue with the Commission only constitute one small part of parliamentary scrutiny for regional parliaments, which still largely rely on traditional tools such as mandates, debates and questions. Therefore, this paper studies a traditional mechanism of scrutiny, parliamentary questions, in order to understand the degree of Europeanization of regional parliaments and their interest in different parliamentary functions more fully. The study shows that the Europeanization of traditional scrutiny mechanisms is progressing slowly, but also that the proportion of MPs who ask EU-related questions is now relatively high. The vast majority of these MPs are not members of the European Affairs Committee. The main functions of parliamentary questions are a representative function and information function. Finally, the focus and content of parliamentary questions show that regional parliaments do indeed have a distinctive territorial approach to EU affairs. [less ▲]

Regional Parliaments: Effective Actors in EU Policy-Making?

in Journal of Legislative Studies (2017), 23(2),

Le Royaume-Uni a beaucoup à perdre

Article for general public (2016)

An information network of officials? Dissecting the role and nature of the network of parliamentary representatives in the European Parliament

in Journal of Legislative Studies (2016)

Enhancing the role of national parliaments in the European Union’s decision-making process has for some time been a popular way in which policy-makers have sought to address legitimacy problems in the ... [more ▼]

Enhancing the role of national parliaments in the European Union’s decision-making process has for some time been a popular way in which policy-makers have sought to address legitimacy problems in the European Union, the Early Warning Mechanism being only one example. In response to these developments, an increasing number of scholars have addressed the question of how parliaments make use of these powers in practice. An important dimension of the process – the role of parliamentary officials in parliamentary scrutiny and control – has so far been neglected in the literature. Against this background, this article examines the role of the representatives of national parliaments in the European Parliament with the aim of understanding the role and the nature of this ‘bureaucratic network’. While falling short of an epistemic community, these officials play an important role in enabling parliamentary scrutiny through the dissemination of information. [less ▲]

Parliamentary Administrations in the European Union

Book published by Palgrave (2016)

Parliamentary Administrations in the European Union offers a comprehensive overview over the role of parliamentary administrations in the control of European Union policy-making. It questions whether the ... [more ▼]

Parliamentary Administrations in the European Union offers a comprehensive overview over 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. In this pursuit, it argues that the challenges of information-management faced by parliaments lead them to delegate an extensive set of tasks to their administrations. The book offers a broad empirical picture: It analyses 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, it studies the interaction between different administrations and their contribution to interparliamentary cooperation. In the process, it presents a new and different perspective on the challenges and dynamics of multi-level parliamentarism. [less ▲]

Luxembourg's EU Council Presidency: Adapting Routines to New Circumstances

in Journal of Common Market Studies (2016), 54(S1), 91-100

research note: studying a new phase of europeanisation of national parliaments

in European Political Science (2015)

In this research note, we propose studying a new trend of Europeanisation in national parliaments within the European Union (EU). We argue that further integration, combined with the opportunities and ... [more ▼]

In this research note, we propose studying a new trend of Europeanisation in national parliaments within the European Union (EU). We argue that further integration, combined with the opportunities and challenges presented by the Lisbon Treaty and the financial crisis, created pressure on national parliaments to expand the scrutiny process beyond European Affairs Committees. In this new phase of Europeanisation, parliaments are increasingly ‘mainstreaming’ EU affairs scrutiny, blurring the distinction between national and European policies and involving larger numbers of MPs. Following a review of existing research on the Europeanisation of national parliaments in the post-Lisbon era, we propose studying four dimensions of mainstreaming: the rising involvement of sectoral committees in European affairs; the adaptation of parliamentary staff to EU policy-making; the growing salience of European affairs in plenary debates; and increasing inter-parliamentary cooperation beyond European affairs specialists. We argue that this trend has significant implications for research that studies the roles of national parliaments in the democratic functioning of the EU. [less ▲]

National Parliaments after Lisbon: Administrations on the Rise?

in West European Politics (2015), 38(2), 335-354

In the wake of the Lisbon Treaty, much of the academic debate on national parliaments in the EU has focused on the new powers of national parliaments and the potential for the politicisation and ... [more ▼]

In the wake of the Lisbon Treaty, much of the academic debate on national parliaments in the EU has focused on the new powers of national parliaments and the potential for the politicisation and parliamentarisation of the EU. In the process, the role of administrators in the parliamentary control of EU affairs has been neglected. This article addresses that gap by comparing parliamentary administrations to a set of ideal types on the basis of in-depth interviews and a comparative survey of parliamentary staff. This leads to the observation that the roles of parliamentary administrators have been further expanded after Lisbon to a range of tasks that go beyond technical support and include elements of agenda-setting. [less ▲]

The Dutch Parliament and EU Affairs: Decentralizing Scrutiny

in Hefftler, Claudia; Neuhold, Christine; Rozenberg, Olivier (Eds.) et al The Palgrave Handbook of National Parliaments and the European Union (2015)

Legislative Regions After Lisbon: A New Role for Regional Assemblies?

in Hefftler, Claudia; Neuhold, Christine; Rozenberg, Olivier (Eds.) et al The Palgrave Handbook of National Parliaments and the European Union (2015)