Too big to run? Analysing the impact of enlargement on the speed of EU decision-making

Hertz, Robin; Leuffen, Dirk

doi:10.1177/1465116511399162

Cited by 59 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In contrast to much of the existing academic literature (in particular, Hertz and Leuffen [2011]; König [2007]; König and Bräuninger [2002]; Leuffen [2006]; Leuffen and Hertz [2010]; Settembri [2007]; see also Avery et al [2009]; Plechanovova [2011]; Thomson [2009]; Zimmer et al [2005]; for more nuanced positions, see ; Kelemen et al [2014]) and the dominant public discourse, 4 I find that the Eastern enlargement has not had a major negative effect on the decision-making capacity of the EU. If anything, the speed of decision-making for some important types of legal acts has actually increased, and more legislation is being produced after 2004 than in the 10 years preceding the accession of the first post-communist countries to the EU.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The existing academic literature offers conflicting accounts. Some studies argue that enlargement has or would slow down decision-making (Hertz and Leuffen 2011;König 2007). On the other hand Golub (2007) finds no effect of enlargements (his data do not include the Eastern enlargement) and Klüver and Sagarzazu (2013) report no effect of the number of member states and a negative effect of within-Council ideological diversity on legislative duration.…”

Section: Legislative Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of the Eastern enlargement on the decision-making capacity of the European Union

Toshkov

2017

Journal of European Public Policy

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This contribution investigates the impact of the Eastern enlargement on the decision-making capacity of the European Union. On the basis of new data on the number and types of legal acts produced by the EU and on the time between the proposal and adoption of legislative acts (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), the contribution argues that enlargement has had a rather limited impact on legislative production and duration and that it is extremely hard to disentangle this impact from other contemporaneous institutional and socioeconomic developments. On the basis of analyses of expert-based policy positions of member states in EU negotiations and on voting data from the Council of Ministers of the EU, it is argued that enlargement has possibly added a new dimension of contestation in EU legislative decision-making, but one that concerns a relatively small share of all negotiations in few policy fields like environment. All in all, there is no evidence that the Eastern enlargement has led to the institutional gridlock and loss of decision-making capacity that the public, many politicians and some academics as well have feared.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Legislative Durationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the Eastern enlargement on the decision-making capacity of the European Union

Toshkov

2017

Journal of European Public Policy

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“…In EU decision making, widening membership through enlargement will therefore augment the costs of information gathering and bargaining, and new member states will add to the costs of negotiating legislation under codecision (Hertz & Leuffen, 2011;Rasmussen, 2011, p. 52). For the colegislators, transaction costs of accommodating more diverse policy preferences arise in particular from the need to coordinate internal positions within their respective organizations.…”

Section: Theorizing the Use Of Early Agreementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Informal Politics of Legislation

Reh

Héritier

Bressanelli

et al. 2011

Comparative Political Studies

141

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This article investigates a widespread yet understudied trend in EU politics: the shift of legislative decision making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas and the subsequent adoption of legislation as "early agreements." Since its introduction in 1999, "fast-track legislation" has increased dramatically, accounting for 72% of codecision files in the Sixth European Parliament. Drawing from functionalist institutionalism, distributive bargaining theory, and sociological institutionalism, this article explains under what conditions informal decision making is likely to occur. The authors test their hypotheses on an original data set of all 797 codecision files negotiated between mid-1999 and mid-2009. Their analysis suggests that fast-track legislation is systematically related to the number of participants, legislative workload, and complexity. These findings back a functionalist argument, emphasizing the transaction costs of intraorganizational coordination and information gathering. However, redistributive and salient acts are regularly decided informally, and the Council presidency's priorities have no significant effect on fast-track legislation. Hence, the authors cannot confirm explanations based on issue properties or actors' privileged institutional positions. Article

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“…The percentage of codecision procedures which are concluded early has increased rapidly since the possibility to conclude at first reading was introduced in 1999. (42) 14% (61) 5% (23) 100% (447) 7th EP (until 22/10/13) 81% (257) 8% (26) 8% (26) 3% (8) 100% ( (Hertz and Leuffen 2011;Rasmussen 2011, p. 52), including the costs which the colegislators face when coordinating their positions within their respective organisations. Using informal arenas may reduce these costs-in particular, as the adoption of an EA only requires a simple majority of votes in Parliament-and may therefore be particularly attractive for actors when they are faced with an increase in the number of negotiation participants (see Reh et al 2013Reh et al , p. 1123.…”

Section: Capturing Early Agreementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Informal Politics of Codecision: Introducing a New Data Set on Early Agreements in the European Union

et al. 2014

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The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), created in 1992 and directed by Brigid Laffan since September 2013, aims to develop inter-disciplinary and comparative research and to promote work on the major issues facing the process of integration and European society.The Centre is home to a large post-doctoral programme and hosts major research programmes and projects, and a range of working groups and ad hoc initiatives. The research agenda is organised around a set of core themes and is continuously evolving, reflecting the changing agenda of European integration and the expanding membership of the European Union. European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO) Working Paper SeriesThe European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO) was launched in the spring of 2006 as an independent and interdisciplinary academic organization. In 2008, EUDO became a fully-integrated part of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS). Its declared goals are: to produce a permanent and periodic assessment of democratic practices within the EU; to serve as a forum to exchange ideas and good practices; and to be a resource for policy-makers, academics and EU citizens.EUDO focuses its activities around the themes of the four EUDO Observatories, which form the backbone of EUDO and constitute its main organizing principle. They are responsible for data and documentation gathering and are directed by EUI internal professors in conjunction with external EUDO experts. Each Observatory coordinates specific research projects. The four Observatories are: the Observatory on Public Opinion, Political Elites and the Media, the Observatory on Political Parties and Representation, the Observatory on Institutional Reform and Change, and the Observatory on Citizenship.The EUDO working paper series started in December 2009 and aims at disseminating high-quality research on the above-mentioned issues. Not only the directors of the Observatories, but as well EUDO fellows and external experts as well as other scholars and practitioners are welcome to submit their work to the series. AbstractOne of the most important developments in the history of the EU's codecision procedure has been the steep rise in "early agreements" since 1999, and the shift of legislative decision-making from public inclusive to informal secluded arenas. As part of a wider research project on "The Informal Politics of Codecision", this working paper launches a new data set on all 797 legislative files concluded under codecision between 1999 and 2009. The paper discusses the process of data collection and coding; explains and justifies the operationalisation and measurement of key variables; and elaborates on the methodological challenges of capturing informal political processes. The paper offers rich descriptive statistics on the scale and scope of early agreements across time, and explores how key characteristics of the legislative file (legal nature, policy area, complexity, salience, policy type, duration) and of the main negotiators (priorities of the Cou...

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Too big to run? Analysing the impact of enlargement on the speed of EU decision-making

Cited by 59 publications

References 38 publications

The impact of the Eastern enlargement on the decision-making capacity of the European Union

The impact of the Eastern enlargement on the decision-making capacity of the European Union

The Informal Politics of Legislation

The Informal Politics of Codecision: Introducing a New Data Set on Early Agreements in the European Union

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