National Parliaments within the Enlarged European Union: From 'Victims' of Integration to Competitive Actors?

by John O'Brennan (Editor), Tapio Raunio (Editor)

Overview

This book presents a wide range of perspectives on the role of national parliaments in EU politics and policy-making. Many accounts of the role of national parliaments portray them as passive victims of European integration. This study instead examines their role within the EU policy-making process, looking at efforts to address perceived democratic and information ‘deficits'.

Bringing together leading scholars in the fields of European studies, public policy analysis, and legislative research, this new volume provides:

• a thorough and wide-ranging synthetic analysis of the position of national parliaments within the EU policy-making structures
• a range of detailed country studies, including for the first time an analysis of the new member state parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe
• an analysis of the significant changes to the position of national parliaments brought about by the recent Convention process and the provisions of the EU’s Constitutional Treaty.

Making an important contribution to an emerging comparative literature on the parliamentary dimension to EU public policy-making, National Parliaments within the Enlarged European Union will interest students and researchers in the fields of European integration, EU politics, and public policy analysis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415399357
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/31/2007
Series:	Routledge Advances in European Politics , #47
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

John O’Brennan is Lecturer in European Politics in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

Tapio Raunio is Professor of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Finland.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Deparliamentarization Through European Integration? Part 1: National Parliaments and European Integration 2. Accountability through National Parliaments: Practice and Problems 3. Interparliamentary Cooperation within Europe 4. European Scrutiny in National Parliaments: Individual Efforts in the Collective Interest 5. National Parliaments in the EU Constitutional Treaty Part 2: National Parliaments in the ‘Old’ European Union 6. The EU in National Parliaments – Domestic or Foreign Policy? A Study of the Nordic Parliamentary Systems 7. South European National Parliaments and the European Union: An Inconsistent Reactive Revival 8. The French and German Systems of Parliamentary Oversight: Explaining Variations in Participation 9. Scrutiny of EU Legislation in the UK Parliament – The First Thirty Years…and Beyond? 10. Ireland: Enhanced Parliamentary Scrutiny of European Affairs: But is it Effective? Conlan Part 3: National Parliaments in the New Member States 11. The Polish Parliament and EU Affairs: An Effective Actor or an Accidental Hero? 12. The Role of the Hungarian Parliament in EU Policy-Making after Accession to the Union: A Mute Witness or a True Controller? 13. The National Assembly of Slovenia and EU Affairs Before and After Accession 14. The Bulgarian National Assembly and Oversight of the Accession Process 15. Conclusions: National Parliaments in the Enlarged European Union: Learning how to Play the European Game?