The National Parliaments In The European Union A Critical View On Eu Constitution Building

Bogen forsøger at belyse balancen mellem national parlamentarisk indflydelse og europæisk integration.

Why have the national governments of EU member states successively endowed the European Parliament with supervisory, budgetary, and legislative powers over the past fifty years? Building Europe's Parliament sheds new light on this pivotal issue, and provides a major contribution to the study of the European Parliament. Rittberger develops a theory of delegation to representative institutions in international politics which combines elements of democratic theory and different strands of institutionalist theory. To test the plausibility of his theory, Rittberger draws on extensive archival material and offers theory-guided, in-depth case studies of three landmark decisions in the history of the European Parliament: the creation of the Common Assembly of the ECSC in 1951 and the concomitant acquisition of supervisory powers vis-à-vis the quasi-executive High Authority; the delegation of budgetary powers following the signing of the Treaty of Luxembourg in 1970; and the delegation of legislative powers resulting from the adoption of the Single European Act signed in 1986. This is followed by the charting of more recent key developments, culminating in the adoption of the Constitutional Treaty in 2004. The book provides a welcome addition to the literature on institutional design by reflecting on the conditions under which governments opt for the creation and empowerment of parliamentary institutions in international politics. It also makes a valuable contribution to the application of democratic theory to the study of the European Union by demonstrating that political elites shared the view that the new supranational polity which emerged from the debris of World War II suffered from 'democratic deficit' since its inception, thus disproving the claim that the lamented 'democratic deficit' is a recent phenomenon.

This book engages in the vivid debate about the role of nationalparliaments in the future European democracy. These parliaments are widely regarded to be essential in reducing the European Union's democratic deficit, but it remains unclear how their function should be organized. The purpose of this volume is to contribute to such a regime on the basis of a comparative analysis of scrutiny systems, as they exist today.

This book presents a wide range of perspectives on the role of national parliaments in EU politics and policy-making, looking at efforts to address perceived democratic and information ‘deficits.’

The European Convention and the Rome and Brussels IGCs : a veto players analysis / George Tsebelis -- The European Convention : consensus without unity? / Thomas Kèonig, Andreas Warntjen and Simone Burkhart -- Austria : the coordination of the national position regarding the Constitution / Christine Arnold and Annemieke Burmeister -- Belgium, the Convention and the IGC : consensus and coalition politics / Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe -- Cyprus : under the shadow of the inter-communal conflict / Spyros Blavoukos and George Pagoulatos -- The Czech Republic : sitting on the fence / Tobias Schulz and Martina Chabreckova -- Denmark : the Nordic Model as an effort to bridge elite Euro-optimism and popular Euro-skepticism / Hartmut Lenz and Han Dorussen -- Estonia : a single voice in Europe's intergovernmental bargaining / Daniel Finke -- Finland : centralized consensus on EU constitution building / Daniel Finke and Thomas König -- France : The President takes all / Tobias Schulz -- Germany : the promoter of European integration? / Stephanie Daimer and Thomas König -- Greece : overcoming negative stereotyping / George Pagoulatos and Spyros Blavoukos -- Hungary : united in support, divided by borders / Anna Gwiazda and Kenneth Benoit -- Ireland : pragmatism and the EU constitution / Anna Gwiazda -- Italy : the presidency at work? / Tobias Schulz -- Latvia and the EU constitution : a pragmatic yes / Stephanie Daimer -- Lithuania : a priority for Europe / Stephanie Daimer -- Luxembourg, the Convention and the IGC : consensus and concern for its economy / Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe -- Malta : the importance of being unimportant / Spyros Blavoukos -- The Netherlands : domestic preference formation on the European Constitution / Christine Arnold, Madeleine O. Hosli and Paul Pennings -- Poland : the struggle for Nice / Anna Gwiazda -- Portugal : quest for a new role / Spyros Blavoukos and George Pagoulatos -- Slovakia : avoiding conflict to secure stability / Tobias Schulz and Martina Chabreckova -- Slovenia : consensus, integration and the protection of identity / Giacomo Benedetto -- Spain : preference formation and European constitution building / Raj S. Chari and Alfonso Egea-de Haro -- Sweden's third way toward the EU constitution : promoting social policies and safeguarding neutrality / Hartmut Lenz and Han Dorussen -- The United Kingdom : position taking and the protection of red lines / Giacomo Benedetto -- The Commission, the Convention and the IGC : consensus and concern for its role / Christophe Crombez and Jan Lebbe -- The European Parliament : consensus and coordination for enhanced powers / Giacomo Benedetto.

SUBNATIONAL OR REGIONAL PARLIAMENTS with legislative competences are increasingly active in EU affairs and are recognized as POTENTIAL ACTORS IN THE EU'S MULTI-LEVEL SYSTEM BY EU LAW. However, studies on the territorial effects of European integration and on the Europeanization of parliaments as well as parliamentarism have so far disregarded this group of parliaments. In the existing theoretical concepts of 'multi-level parliamentarism' subnational parliaments do not have a place until now. The book addresses this theoretical and empirical gap. Referring TO STUDIES ON PARLIAMENTARISM, FEDERALISM, AND EUROPEANIZATION the contributions discuss how to include subnational parliaments in the existing research. A total of 74 subnational parliaments from eight member states is affected by the new system, which allows them to participate in the so-called Early Warning Mechanism of subsidiarity control. The situation in six EU member states is analyzed in detail. The country chapters illustrate and analyze how subnational parliaments in the federal member states (Austria, Belgium, Germany) and in the decentralized/devolved ones (Great Britain, Italy, Spain) functionally adapt to the new opportunity structure and discuss the repercussions on legislative-executive relations as well as on interparliamentary relations. With contributions from Gabriele Abels; Katrin Auel and Martin Große Hüttman; Peter Bursens, Frederic Maes and Matthias Vileyn; Peter Bußjäger; Josep-María Castellà Andreu and Mario Kölling; Ben Crum, Annegret Eppler; John Erik Fossum; Anna-Lena Högenauer; Sabine Kropp; Robert Ladrech; Erik Miklin; Matteo Nicolini; Werner J. Patzelt; Tapio Raunio; Werner Reutter; Gerhard Stahl and Bert Kuby; Gracia Vara Arribas.

The revised and updated 2nd edition of this broad-ranging text examines the political dynamic of the European Parliament within the EU and sets it in the broader context of comparative legislative analysis. The authors examine its significance in the debates surrounding the democracy, legitimacy and "parliamentarization" of the European Union.