The mainstreaming of EU affairs: a challenge for parliamentary administrations

in Journal of Legislative Studies (2021)

Past research has identified a trend towards the bureaucratisation of the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It highlighted the role of parliamentary staff in selecting relevant issues, advising on ... [more ▼]

Past research has identified a trend towards the bureaucratisation of the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It highlighted the role of parliamentary staff in selecting relevant issues, advising on subsidiarity and procedures and drafting of opinions and resolutions. However, while administrators clearly play a role, less is known about the Europeanisation of parliamentary administrations. In particular, the impact of the growing Europeanisation of sectoral committees on the Europeanisation of staff is unexplored. This article presents data from a survey of parliamentary administrations in 2021, which shows that the Europeanisation of parliamentary administrations extends beyond the main units in charge of EU affairs and affects sectoral committee staff more generally. At the same time, it reveals that the organisation of staff support for EU affairs varies greatly across the national parliaments depending on the organisation of the political scrutiny, on administrative capacity and on pre-existing units. [less ▲]

Conclusion: regional parliaments – a distinct role in the EU?

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

Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core ... [more ▼]

Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core questions: have regional parliaments really been empowered by the early warning system provisions? Which factors explain differences in strength and mobilisation? Finally, what kind of a role do regional parliaments play in EU policy-making today, now that they have had several years to react to the trend towards multilevel parliamentarism? The authors argue that regional parliaments do indeed have the potential to contribute a distinct perspective to EU policy-making, even if their current level of activity is still low. Their distinctive territorial focus sets them apart from national parliaments. Their level of activity still varies greatly between parliaments depending on a number of factors. [less ▲]

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 ▲]