Democracy in parliament vs. democracy through parliament? Defining the rules of the game in the European Parliament

Brack, Nathalie; Costa, Olivier

doi:10.1080/13572334.2018.1444625

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overall, the reform is largely inspired by the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and by the solutions that allowed members to participate remotely. More generally, it empowers the President of the EP, which is consistent with previous reforms of the rules (Brack and Costa 2018).…”

Section: The Inclusion Of "Exceptional Circumstances" In the Rules Of...supporting

confidence: 85%

“…This was only possible because of the central and powerful role of the EP's leadership bodies (the Presidency and the Bureau), and the long tradition of "rationalizing" the EP activities. This sequence of events has contributed to further increase the competences and influence of those organs, in line with an evolution that goes back to the late 1980s (Brack and Costa, 2018). This process of adaptation was also facilitated by the consensus existing between the main political groups, and by the key-role given to the Conference of Presidents -which they dominate -in the reorganization of EP deliberation.…”

Section: The Inclusion Of "Exceptional Circumstances" In the Rules Of...mentioning

confidence: 77%

“…They are extremely detailed and codify all aspects of the EP's functioning and deliberation. The Rules are amended very often in order to reflect any evolutions in the EU's institutional context, especially constitutional changes, and to support the EP's strategy of empowerment (Brack and Costa, 2018). In the case of the Covid-19 pandemic, the strategy was the same: the EP needed to adapt its internal operations to the pandemic, but also to remain fully involved in the functioning of the EU.…”

Section: Adapting the European Parliament's Organization To The Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The European Parliament and Covid-19: Organisational Adaptations and their Implications on Parliamentary Activity

Brack¹,

Costa²,

Marié³

2021

ZParl

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As early as March 2020, the President of the European Parliament decided to shut down the assembly’s facilities in Brussels and to cancel the plenary sessions in Strasbourg . Important decisions were made to abandon in-person meetings, introduce teleworking for all staff, and implement remote deliberation and voting both in committees and in the plenary . The Rules of Procedure were adapted to formalize these organisational changes and make them ready for future crises . All in all, the European Parliament proved to be resilient and adaptive: it continued to discuss and adopt many legislative, budgetary, and non-legislative texts in the plenary . However, remote-work did have an impact on the political dynamics within Parliament . It was characterised by a very high level of consensus, as the result of a higher level of agreement between the two main party groups, the European People’s Party and the Socialists & Democrats . Those main groups also became much more cohesive .

show abstract

Section: The Inclusion Of "Exceptional Circumstances" In the Rules Of...supporting

confidence: 85%

Section: The Inclusion Of "Exceptional Circumstances" In the Rules Of...mentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Adapting the European Parliament's Organization To The Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The European Parliament and Covid-19: Organisational Adaptations and their Implications on Parliamentary Activity

Brack¹,

Costa²,

Marié³

2021

ZParl

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The results reveal variation across the cycle in the mobilization of different interest group categories. This paper contributes to discussions of political pluralism and interest group mobilization in parliaments (Brack & Costa, 2018; Chaqués‐Bonafont & Muñoz Márquez, 2016; Coen & Katsaitis, 2019b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Deliberative layering: Explaining diverse interest mobilization across the European Parliament's Policy Cycle

Coen

Lehmann

Katsaitis

2020

Journal of Public Affairs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drawing from work on deliberation and information‐access, this paper conceptually frames why and when different types of interests mobilize across the parliamentary policy cycle. We posit that each policy stage holds its own deliberative purpose and logic, leading to a variation in the type and volume of information demanded. The legitimacy of the expertise interest groups provide is affected by their organizational characteristics. To ensure the smooth flow of the policy process, members of parliament encourage groups that legitimately hold relevant information to mobilize at each policy stage, while lobbyists choose to mobilize when their expertise allows them to better influence policy‐makers' debates. We test our argument in the context of the European Parliament, following a unique survey of the 8th legislature (2014–2019). The responses lend support to our model. In a policy process that contains various stages of deliberation, different organizations hold an information‐expertise key that gives them access at different stages. Significantly, less studied groups, such as think tanks and consultancies, mobilize well ahead of others in the cycle's initial phases; while lobbyists representing public constituencies dominate in the final stages. The paper contributes to broader theoretical discussions on pluralism, bias, and deliberation in policy‐making.

show abstract

“…The EP agenda is also defined in a consensual manner, through group negotiations within the Conference of Presidents. More generally, the main initiatives regarding the overall strategy of the EP originate from the parliamentary committees or from the hierarchical organs, and not from groups (Brack and Costa 2018). From an institutional perspective, scholars thus conclude that single groups or parties have little opportunity to weight on policy-making in the EU regime (Hix, Noury, and Roland 2007).…”

Section: Parliamentary Questions: An Understudied Instrument Of Diffe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Issue Politicization in the European Parliament. An Analysis of Parliamentary Questions for Oral Answer (2004–19)*

Guinaudeau

Costa

2021

J of Common Market Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article complements analyses of the partisan politicisation of the European Parliament from roll-call votes with an analysis of political groups' use of parliamentary questions. Questions offer an institutional opening for issue politicization and for partisan differentiation. Parliamentary groups have incentives to shape EU policies by drawing the attention to their topics of predilection and by controlling ongoing action. We make use of a new dataset on questions for oral answer (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019) to test if this results in European party groups emphasizing differentiated topics in their questions to the Commission and the Council. Our analyses confirm groups' differentiated issue attention. These findings have important implications for understanding the partisan politicization of EU policies and confirming the truly political nature of deliberation in the EP. They reveal patterns of partisan opposition different from those expressed in votes and emphasize the relevance of parliamentary questions as a key institutional window for politicization.

show abstract

Democracy in parliament vs. democracy through parliament? Defining the rules of the game in the European Parliament

Cited by 21 publications

References 33 publications

The European Parliament and Covid-19: Organisational Adaptations and their Implications on Parliamentary Activity

The European Parliament and Covid-19: Organisational Adaptations and their Implications on Parliamentary Activity

Deliberative layering: Explaining diverse interest mobilization across the European Parliament's Policy Cycle

Issue Politicization in the European Parliament. An Analysis of Parliamentary Questions for Oral Answer (2004–19)*

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About