Mathias Dobbels

‘The Roles Bureaucrats Play’: The Input of European Parliament (EP) Administrators into the Ordinary Legislative Procedure: A Case Study Approach

Abstract The European Parliament (EP) is branded as one of the winners of the Lisbon Treaty. It has seen its role expanded to more than 40 Treaty articles and obtained the status of co-legislator in previously uncharted territory such as agriculture, fisheries and legal migration. This raises the question of how the EP adapts itself to the newly obtained powers in order to fulfill its legislative role. A very pertinent issue in this context are the type of tasks that are delegated to EP civil servants as this might have implications for the democratic legitimacy of the directly elected Members. This contribution identifies the conditions under which civil servants take up different types of tasks by looking at four cases in two different policy areas: migration and fisheries. Political importance of the dossier and expertise are identified as key determinants for the role of civil servants in the ordinary legislative procedure.

Delegated Powers and Inter-institutional Relations in the EU before and after the Lisbon Treaty

The European Union’s system of delegated powers, ‘comitology’, underwent significant changes after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force. This paper assesses the impact of these changes on the European Parliament, European Commission and Council. It distinguishes between the changes that occurred at the level of treaty reform (which generally favoured the EP in assuming a greater role in the process of policy-implementation) and subsequent legislative reforms and developments in soft law (through which the Council and the European Commission have reasserted their powers). While the system of delegated powers has significantly changed through the Lisbon reforms, it falls short of the expectations and intentions that led to these changes. The key objectives behind the reform – a simplification of a highly complex system of centralised policy implementation and greater democratic accountability through an upgrading of the EP’s role – have only partially been achieved. To some extent recent developments indicate a step back.

Officials ‘Pre-Cooking’ EU Affairs? The Role of EP Officials in the Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP)

The European Parliament (EP) has been hailed as one of the ‘winners’ of the Lisbon Treaty (Mahoney, 2010). Indeed, since its entry into force, the EP is a co-legislator in almost all regulatory fields of the EU. The co-legislative powers of the EP now cover 85 Treaty articles and were extended into thus-far unchartered waters such as fisheries and the common commercial policy, to name just two examples. Moreover, what used to be the third pillar of freedom, security, and justice now falls in its entirety under the ordinary legislative procedure (OLP, formerly known as the co-decision procedure).

Who Selects What and How? How the European Parliament Obtains and Processes Information for Policy-Making

The European Parliament (EP) has undergone an amazing transformation since its inception in the 1950s. From an unelected Common Assembly it has become a full-fledged co-legislator together with the Council and is now directly elected by EU citizens. The Treaty of Lisbon has extended the Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP) (former co-decision) to cover 85 Treaty bases and the EP is now co-legislator in thus far uncharted territory of the Common Commercial Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy to name just two.

Administrative Players in the European Parliament

The EP is arguably the institution that has been transformed the most compared with other EU institutions. It has come a long way from an unelected assembly in the 1950s that was merely consulted by the Council, to a directly elected parliament that has achieved co-legislative equality with the Council in over 85 treaty articles.