6. How Policies Are Made

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Hayes-Renshaw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure

This chapter examines how European Union policies are made. Most EU legislation is now adopted according to the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, under which the Council and the European Parliament have equal powers. The basic policy-making rules laid down in the Treaties have been supplemented over the years by formal agreements and informal understandings between the main actors in the decision-making institutions. EU policy-making is open to criticism on grounds of democracy, transparency, and efficiency, but it continues to deliver an impressive amount and array of policy outcomes. The chapter considers the basic rules and principal actors involved in EU policy-making and how the policy-making process works in practice. It also asks whether the EU policy-making process is democratic, transparent, and efficient before concluding with an assessment of the theory and practice underlying the process.

6. How Policies Are Made

2018 ◽  
pp. 123-145
Author(s):  
Daniel Kenealy ◽  
Fiona Hayes-Renshaw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure

This chapter examines how European Union policies are made. Most EU legislation is now adopted according to the Ordinary Legislative Procedure, under which the Council and the European Parliament have equal powers. The basic policy-making rules laid down in the Treaties have been supplemented over the years by formal agreements and informal understandings between the main actors in the decision-making institutions. EU policy-making is open to criticism on grounds of democracy, transparency, and efficiency, but it continues to deliver an impressive amount and array of policy outcomes. The chapter considers the basic rules and principal actors involved in EU policy-making and how the policy-making process works in practice. It also asks whether the EU policy-making process is democratic, transparent, and efficient, before concluding with an assessment of the theory and practice underlying the process.

6. Legislation and Decision-Making

EU Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 155-193
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter, which discusses the process by which the EU enacts legislation and makes decisions, begins by considering the making of legislative acts. This includes the Treaty rules and practice concerning the initiation of the legislative process, and how the ordinary legislative procedure, in which the Council and EP act as co-legislators, has come to occupy centre stage. The focus then shifts to the making of delegated acts followed by an analysis of how implementing acts are made. The chapter concludes with discussion of democracy in the EU, and evaluates the extent to which the EU might be said to have a democracy deficit. The UK version contains a further section analysing issues concerning EU legislation and decision-making in relation to the UK post-Brexit.

scholarly journals Multi-level governance in a ‘Europe with the regions’

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-775
Author(s):  
Arjan H Schakel
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
The Eu

The concept of multilevel governance was introduced to reveal the impact of regions on European Union (EU) policy making in Brussels. In this contribution, I show that multilevel governance also exposes regional involvement in EU affairs within the member states. In contrast to perspectives that focus on formal decision-making by central governments, multilevel governance uncovers significant sharing of authority between governmental actors within and beyond national states even in cases where the formal right to make a decision lies with national governments or the EU legislator. I argue that the concept of multilevel governance is key for understanding developments within a three-tiered EU polity because it directs scholarly attention to the incentives for regions to be involved in EU affairs and for national governments and EU institutions to share their authority with regions.

Policy complexity and legislative duration in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Hurka ◽  
Maximilian Haag
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
General Level ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure ◽  
The Impact

This article investigates the impact of policy complexity on the duration of legislative negotiations in the European Union employing survival analysis. We conceptualize policy complexity as a three-dimensional construct encompassing structural, linguistic and relational components. Building on this conceptual framework, we measure the complexity of 889 Commission proposals published under the ordinary legislative procedure between 2009 and 2018. Controlling for institutional and political drivers of legislative duration identified by previous studies, we show that different types of policy complexity influence the duration of the decision-making process in the European Union to varying degrees, at different points in time and partially in unexpected ways. On a general level, our study highlights that developing a better understanding of the origins and consequences of policy complexity in the European Union is a key task for scholars of European integration.

The Politics of Legal Expertise in EU Policy-Making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Päivi Leino-Sandberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Significant Power ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
Legal Advice ◽  
Legal Expertise ◽  
The Eu

Legal advisers working in the institutions of the European Union exercise significant power, but very little is known about their work. Notwithstanding the handful of cases where legal matters find their way into the news, legal advice remains invisible in EU policy making. For more than ten years Päivi Leino-Sandberg was a part of the invisible community of EU legal advisers, and participated in the exercise of their power. In this book, she shares her insights about how law and lawyers work in the EU institutions, and what their role and impact is on EU decisions from within the decision-making structure. She draws on interviews with over sixty EU lawyers and policymakers: legal experts who interpret the Treaties within the Institutions, draft legislation and defend the Institutions before the EU Court. Telling the true stories behind key negotiations, this book explores the interplay and tensions between legal requirements and political ambitions.

6. Legislation and Decision-Making

EU Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 162-201
Author(s):  
Paul Craig ◽  
Gráinne de Búrca
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Eu Legislation ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter, which discusses the process by which the EU enacts legislation and makes decisions, begins by considering the making of legislative acts. This includes the Treaty rules and practice concerning the initiation of the legislative process, and how the ordinary legislative procedure, in which the Council and EP act as co-legislators, has come to occupy centre stage. The focus then shifts to the making of delegated acts followed by an analysis of how implementing acts are made. The chapter concludes with discussion of democracy in the EU, and evaluates the extent to which the EU might be said to have a democracy deficit. The UK version contains a further section analysing issues concerning EU legislation and decision-making in relation to the UK post-Brexit.

Beyond Chapter VIII: Limits and Opportunities for Regional Representation at the UN security Council

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Drieskens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
European Union ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Security Council Resolution ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The Eu

AbstractZooming in on the serving European Union (EU) Member States and exploring the legal parameters defining regional actorness both directly and indirectly, this article analyzes the EU's representation at the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Looking at the theory and practice behind Articles 52, 23 and 103 of the UN Charter, we shed fresh light on the only provision in the European Treaties that explicitly referred to the UN Security Council, i.e. the former Article 19 of the EU Treaty. We define that provision as a regional interpretation of Article 103 of the UN Charter and discuss its implementation in day-to-day decision-making, especially as for economic and financial sanctions measures. Hereby, we focus on the negotiations leading to UN Security Council Resolution 1822(2008).

Time is of the essence: Explaining the duration of European Union lawmaking under the co-decision procedure

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110364
Author(s):  
Adam Kirpsza
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Decision Procedure ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Issue Linkage ◽  
Rational Choice Institutionalism ◽  
Legislative Procedure ◽  
Ordinary Legislative Procedure ◽  
European Parliament Elections

The article explores factors affecting the duration of the co-decision procedure (currently the ordinary legislative procedure), the main procedure for adopting legislation in the European Union. Drawing from rational choice institutionalism, it expects the speed of co-decision to be determined by three attributes: the impatience of legislators, issue linkage and the characteristics of Council and European Parliament negotiators ( relais actors). The hypotheses are tested using survival analysis on a dataset of 599 controversial legislative acts submitted and enacted under co-decision between 1999 and 2009. The results show that co-decision proposals are decided faster when they are urgent, negotiated prior to the European Parliament elections and concluded through single proposal logrolls. By contrast, multi-proposal packages and the ideological distance between relais actors prolong decision-making. Overall, the article contributes to the literature by showing that the impatience of legislators, package deals and the properties of negotiators are relevant drivers of co-decision duration.

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