A ‘Virtual Third Chamber’ for the European Union? National Parliaments after the Treaty of Lisbon

Abstract

The emergence of regulatory agencies is widely considered as the institutional hallmark of the regulatory state and has attracted considerable academic attention. Moreover, research shows that national regulatory agencies are increasingly integrated into transnational regulatory networks. This paper argues that research on regulatory agencies and networks is based on an implicit assumption that regulatory agencies are a distinct 'species' of organisations that can be studied without considering other types of agencies. A key insight is that comparative perspectives including regulatory and executive agencies are important to put regulatory scholarship into context and to flesh out the contribution of regulatory scholarship to advance general knowledge on public administration. The paper illustrates such comparative perspectives by reviewing literature on the formal and actual autonomy of agencies, the effect of transnational networks on national agencies, and multilevel coordination in administrative networks.

Accountability in the post-Lisbon European Union

“…Even though criticism abounds in the literature (De Wilde, 2012;Kiiver, 2012), recent research also shows the political potential of the early warning procedure (Bellamy and Kro¨ger, 2014;Kiiver, 2012). According to Cooper (2012), it can positively contribute to the deliberative function of parliaments. A recent study has indicated some cautious (side) effects.…”

Strategic communication of EU affairs: an analysis of legislative behaviour on Twitter

“…Following a gradual increase in their rights and duties over time, the Treaty of Lisbon further strengthened the role of national parliaments to participate in EU decision-making. National parliaments can now intervene in the European legislative process through the early warning mechanism (EWM), which makes them one of the most important actors in EU affairs (Cooper, 2012). However, the same cannot be said about regional parliaments, which have a much more limited role in EU affairs.…”

Regional parliaments in the EU multilevel parliamentary system

“…Scholars have analysed national parliaments' activities, institutional strength, institutional adaptation, resources and performance (for recent contributions, see e.g. Cooper, 2012;Raunio, 2011;Winzen, 2012;, Auel & Christiansen, 2015Bellamy & Kröger, 2016;Sprungk, 2016). By contrast, academics have REGIONAL PARLIAMENTS IN THE EU MULTILEVEL PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM 4 largely ignored the topic of regional parliaments, except for single country-studies (Abels, 2013, Carter & McLeod, 2005 and some pioneering comparative work (BoronskaHryniewiecka, 2013b; Abels & Eppler, 2015).…”

“…Maurer, 2002). Thus, Weiler (2012)argues that the EU will ultimately need to base its legitimacy on national democratic institutions, including national parliaments while Cooper (2012; The reaction of national parliaments has been to enhance their institutional capacity to seek more EU related information, and to increase scrutiny of EU policies (e.g. through establishing European Affairs committees and by activating the Early Warning System).…”