1 / 13

Council and EU decision-making from an enlargement perspective

Council and EU decision-making from an enlargement perspective.

paniz
Download Presentation

Council and EU decision-making from an enlargement perspective

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Council and EU decision-makingfrom an enlargement perspective *Pierpaolo Settembri is an official at the General Secretariat of the Council of theEuropean Union. The views he expresses are purely personal and may not in anycircumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Council From Istanbul to Brussels: Dialogue on Turkey’s accession to the EU Fondation Universitaire, Brussels (3 March 2009) Pierpaolo Settembri*

  2. Sources • P. Settembri (2007), The surgery succeeded. Has the patient died? The impact of enlargement on the European Union, Jean Monnet Working Paper 04/07 • E. Best, T. Christiansen and P. Settembri (eds.), The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union: Continuity and Change (Edward Elgar, 2008)

  3. Analytical Framework Common questions • assimilation / adaptation / transformation Change at what level ? • intra- / inter-institutional • within and between different sub-systems Change in what ways ? • formal / informal ( rules / procedures / practices ) • anticipation / reaction • deliberate / de facto

  4. Research Design • “Before-after”: 2 pictures of the EU • No prior hypotheses • Data – 2 years of “normal” decision-making (2003 & 2005/6) – Almost 1000 “acts” – Over 30,000 observations

  5. Starting Point Acts adopted at the EU level, by type

  6. Council: deadlock? Stable global legislative output, but … Number of acts that are ‘legally binding in or for the Member States’ adopted before/after enlargement, by voting rule

  7. Council: contestation Stable level of “contestation”: Average number of states abstaining or opposing the adoption of Community legislation under QMV, by importance

  8. Council: speed (1) Decision-making is more expedite, but… Average number of days necessary to adopt Community legislation by importance

  9. Council: speed (2) … it depends on the procedure: Average number of days necessary to adopt Community legislation by procedure

  10. Council: deliberation Discussions by ministers are less frequent: Average number of discussions as ‘B points’ in the Council per Community act by importance

  11. Decision-making: output Only “minor acts” increase: Importance of Community acts adopted before/after enlargement

  12. Decision-making: legislative “quality” The content of legislation changes: Average length of Community legislation by importance of act and procedure

  13. Conclusion • The EU has proved to be a flexible system (without any treaty revision) • What the EU produces and the way it operates indicate the appearance of some trends: • legislation is shaped by an increased variety of interests: the level of output is affected and its content is somewhat altered • The main arena where these changes are detectable is the codecision procedure • Future research should look into the ongoing evolution of the codecision procedure

More Related