Introduction: the European Parliament at a crossroads

Abstract

This introductory article discusses the rationale and the aim of this special issue on the European Parliament. Examining the ongoing multidimensional crisis the EU is facing, it emphasizes how the current content has reduced the EU output legitimacy. It also argues that the Parliament has been affected by the recent developments. On the one hand, it has been further empowered with the Lisbon Treaty and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure. On the other hand, the management of the crisis has been essentially intergovernmental and the EP has been sidelined. A second section critically discusses the literature on the EP and highlights the need to further develop our understanding of this institution, which cannot yet be called a 'normal parliament'. It then presents the articles composing this special issue.

Politicizing Europe in Elections to the European Parliament (1994–2019): The Crucial Role of Mainstream Parties

“…Because of complex interdependencies between national and EP elections, we may expect that trends regarding the politicization of European integration observed in national elections may (at least to some extent) spill over and have an impact on elections at the European level, and vice versa. Second, the European Parliament has become more powerful with the Maastricht Treaty and subsequent treaty changes (Brack and Costa, 2018). As a result, EP elections should have become more controversial and more visible to the media and voters.…”

Legislative Efficiency and Political Inclusiveness: The Effect of Procedures on Interest Group Mobilization in the European Parliament

“…Studies on interest group mobilization offer key insights into policy-making processes by mirroring institutions' locus of activity, power, and bias (Chaques-Bonafont & Munoz Marquez 2016;Brack & Costa 2018). To comprehend the nature of the European Parliament's (EP) growing authority (Westlake 2018) and its committees' roles in the policy process, it is important that we examine interest mobilization in this black box (Fasone & Lupo 2015;Coen & Katsaitis 2018;Pedersen et al 2015).…”

Introduction

“…Yet, in several other aspects the claim that the EP is a fully 'normal' parliament seems overstretched (cf. Brack and Costa 2018). This is not just because the EP lacks certain attributes that most national legislatures have (e.g.…”