Les groupes d'experts dans le gouvernement de l'Union européenne.

Abstract

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The Politics behind the Consultation of Expert Groups: An Instrument to Reduce Uncertainty or to Offset Salience?

“…Another reason for interest resided in transparency issues regarding these groups' composition and use due to which research focused mainly on the interactions occurring inside these groups while trying to determine the logic(s) underlying their use. Academic efforts here mainly aimed at demonstrating that expertise is not used a priori in a neutral, objective or apolitical way (Robert, 2010). However, the mushrooming of expert groups by now appears to have stabilised and although controversies about transparency have remained, they no longer seem all that different from concerns addressed to other forms of committee governance in the European Union such as comitology or Council Working Groups (Brandsma, 2013;Häge, 2012).…”

“…Based on semi-structured interviews and official documents, she argued that expert groups "feed into the preparatory work in multiple ways…depending on the issue context and the policy maker's corresponding demands" (p. 276). While one could expect issue uncertainty and salience to play a more prominent role in such qualitative research (because data collection may pose fewer problems here), previous work was mostly constructivist in nature and tended to focus on the socialization processes occurring within these committees (Hrabanski, 2010;Robert, 2010). As such, the importance of experts to lend political authority and legitimacy to an initiative is stressed because committees are consulted to forge a European consensus (Douillet & de Maillard, 2010;Robert, 2013).…”

“…A suitable way of doing this is by using an expert group in advance of decision-making. Constructivist theory stresses in this respect that expert groups promote diffuse reciprocity between participants (Robert, 2010). The European Commission requires that experts are familiar with European decisionmaking processes and capable of making compromises, and usually ensures that representation in the expert groups is balanced in terms of nationality.…”

“…Given the role that is attributed to expert groups in the preparation of issues, it is quite remarkable that expert groups are usually not studied by looking at issue characteristics. In spite of this, scholars agree that the European Commission uses expert groups for two reasons, namely to engage in problem-solving and to mobilise support (Larsson & Murk, 2007;Robert, 2010Robert, , 2013. On one hand, problem-solving assumes that expert groups possess private information that is essential for the substantive quality of a proposal (Heard-Laureote, 2010).…”

Les experts scientifiques français dans le Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2001–2005) : les raisons de leur absence

“…Une dizaine d'entretiens semi-directifs ont égale-ment été menés auprès d'experts français et de certains acteurs-clés des ministères. Pour analyser ces données, nous mobiliserons d'abord des travaux de sociologie politique portant sur le rôle de l'expertise dans des arènes supranationales (Dumoulin et al, 2005 ;Lequesne et Rivaud, 2001;Ollitrault, 2001 ;Robert, 2003Robert, , 2005Robert, , 2009Robert, , 2010. L'expertise y est analysée comme une stratégie possible de représentation des intérêts (Saurugger, 2002 ;Hrabanski, 2010) et les résultats soulignent aussi la sélec-tivité accrue des arènes internationales (Michel et Robert, 2010 ;Wagner, 2009).…”