Sous la direction de Renaud Dehousse, Deloche-Gaudez, Sophie Jacquot, Sophie Jacquot

What is Europe up to?

2009 Présentation What is Europe up to? In what areas is it taking action? Is it meeting the expectations of its citizens? These are all legitimate questions in the run-up to the European elections, questions that, all too often, prompt ideological responses. Who's in charge of "Europe"? Such is the power-sharing within the Union, what with the Members of the European Parliament, the Barroso commission, the country holding the EU Presidency, the ministers of the member States, it is hard to ascertain the responsibility of a specific actor or institution. Comparisons with the United States or with France confirm that Europe remains "different" from a State. The comparison between what Europe is actually doing and what Europeans expect it to do, does expose a troubling discrepancy. Based on a strict assessment of the activities of the , this work helps to better understand the policies of European institutions, their issues and priorities, and the way in which they take on board the concerns of its citizens. List of contributors: Sylvain Brouard, Giuseppe Ciavarini Azzi, Olivier Costa, Renaud Dehousse, Florence Deloche-Gaudez, Ana Mar Fernández, Emiliano Grossman, Sophie Jacquot, Nicolas Monceau. Without equivalent on a national or an international level, the "Evaluating Europe" series draws on innovative and previously unpublished data produced by the Observatory of European Institutions (OIE), set up by the Centre for European Studies at with the aim of giving fully-informed access to the European debate for all. Copyright © Presses de Sciences Po, Paris, 2012. ISBN numérique : 9782724688634 Cette œuvre est protégée par le droit d'auteur et strictement réservée à l'usage privé du client. Toute reproduction ou diffusion au profit de tiers, à titre gratuit ou onéreux, de tout ou partie de cette œuvre est strictement interdite et constitue une contrefaçon prévue par les articles L 335-2 et suivants du Code de la propriété intellectuelle. L'éditeur se réserve le droit de poursuivre toute atteinte à ses droits de propriété intellectuelle devant les juridictions civiles ou pénales.

S'informer

Si vous désirez être tenu régulièrement informé de nos parutions, il vous suffit de vous abonner gratuitement à notre lettre d'information bimensuelle par courriel, à partir de notre site Presses de Sciences Po, où vous retrouverez l'ensemble de notre catalogue. Table Acknowledgements List of contributors The Observatory of european institutions Introduction Chapter 1/What are the European Union's priorities? (Emiliano Grossman et Sylvain Brouard) European legislation: A profile The EU: An Atypical Actor Agendas structure and trends Conclusion Chapter 2/Are EU policies meeting europeans' expectations? (Renaud Dehousse et Nicolas Monceau) Evaluating “European demands” Europeans’ primary expectations Significant variations according to country and political orientations The supply of European policies Conclusion Chapter 3/What does the European Commission do? (Giuseppe Ciavarini Azzi) Is the Commission taking the sort of initiatives which the Union needs? Is the Commission defending its initiatives effectively? Executive and oversight activities Conclusion Chapter 4/What Powers Does the EU Presidency Have? (Ana Mar Fernández) The initial model The gradual supranationalization of the Presidential function Is the Presidency’s autonomy being eroded? France at the command and service of the EU Conclusion: The Presidency of the European Union—Striking the Right Balance Chapter 5/Why is the EU Council of Ministers More Active in some Policy Domains? (Florence Deloche-Gaudez) An activity concentrated in a few policy domains Competences are not the only contributing factor Are decisions easier to make by unanimity? Are relations between the Council and the European Parliament becoming more conflictual? Differentiated voting habits Conclusion Chapter 6/How to Evaluate the European Parliament and Its Members? (Olivier Costa) Challenges and pitfalls of MEP activity Assessing the European Parliament’s influence: A difficult task Conclusion Acknowledgements

Renaud Dehousse

Florence Deloche-Gaudez

Sophie Jacquot

We would like to thank all the persons in the European institutions who lent us their support in the gathering of quantitative data, especially Una O’Dwyer, Martine Rozet and Mário Paulo Tenreiro, Heads of Unit at the Secretariat-General of the Commission, Philippe Defays at the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Juan Urbieta Gandiaga at the European Parliament, and the centre Info-Doc. Other European actors helped us to interpret the collected data. Particular thanks go to Jean-Louis de Brouwer, director at the European Commission, François Gave, advisor at the Représentation Permanente de la France, Gilles de Kerkove, personal representative of the High Representative for the coordination of the fight against terrorism, Wolfgang Ploch, Head of Unit at the General Secretariat of the Council and Philippe Pochet, Director General of the European Trade Union Institute. Without the cooperation of the team at the Centre de données socio- politiques (CDSP) of Sciences Po, the database of the Observatory of European Institutions (OIE) would not exist. The precision and perseverance of Geneviève Michaud have been particularly invaluable. Laurie Beaudonnet, currently a doctoral student at the European University Institute in Florence, contributed competently and energetically to the extension of the database. Thanks to her, we are in possession of data that pave the way for innovative policy domains analyses. Last but not least, we wish to thank Elsa Massoc, who participated in the data collection, Alina Gìrbea, for her work on the Commission proposals, and Nicolas Leron for his assistance in the checking and presentation of the data relating to the priorities of European citizens and of the Union.

List of contributors

Renaud Dehousse

Florence Deloche-Gaudez

Sophie Jacquot

Sylvain BROUARD is a researcher at Spirit, Sciences Po Bordeaux. His research focuses on comparative politics, political institutions and minorities in Western democracies. He co-directs the French Agenda Project. Along with A. Appleton and A. Mazur, he recently edited The French Republic at Fifty (Palgrave, 2008), and published, with N.Sauger and E. Grossman, Les Français contre l’Europe (Presses de Sciences Po, 2007). Giuseppe CIAVARINI AZZI is a specialist on the decisional process in the European Union. Throughout his career within the European Commission, he directly participated in the successive stages of the Union’s institutional development between 1964 and 2001. Author of various publications on these subjects, he has been teaching at Sciences Po since 2002. Olivier COSTA is a CNRS researcher at Spirit, Sciences Po Bordeaux. He is also visiting Professor at ULB, at the College of Europe (Bruges) and at Sciences Po. His research focuses on the institutional system of the European Union, democratic issues in the Union, and parliamentary and interest representation in Europe. Renaud DEHOUSSE is a university professor and holder of a Jean Monnet chair at Sciences Po, where he is director of the Centre for European Studies. He has taught at the European University Institute in Florence and at the (). His work is centred on decision-making processes in the European Union. Florence DELOCHE-GAUDEZ is visiting fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) and associate researcher with the Centre for European Studies at Sciences Po. Her research focuses on the European decision-making process, in particular within the Council. She has also written a number of publications on the method of the Convention and the constitutional project of the Union, including La Constitution européenne (Presses de Sciences Po, 2005). Ana Mar FERNÁNDEZ is senior lecturer in politics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and associate researcher with the Centre for European Studies at Sciences Po. She is the author of a thesis on the EU Council Presidency. Her research focuses on European intra and inter-institutional dynamics. She is currently working on the relations between the Council Presidency and the European Commission. Emiliano GROSSMAN is a researcher and lecturer at Sciences Po Paris (Centre for European Studies). He is working on the political agenda process in France, French political institutions and economic regulation. He recently co-directed (with Nicolas Sauger) a special issue of West European Politics, devoted to France’s political institutions at 50. He is currently working on the processes of financial liberalisation and their degrees of politicisation. Sophie JACQUOT is research fellow and scientific coordinator of the Centre for European Studies at Sciences Po. Her research focuses on the transformations of European public action and its modes of governance, particularly in the social and anti-discrimination fields. Nicolas MONCEAU is research fellow at PACTE and teaches at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Grenoble. His current research concerns the effects of the enlargement of the European Union, attitudes of the elites and of citizens with regard to European construction and Turco-European relations. His doctoral thesis, winner of the Dalloz award in 2007, is published under the title: Générations démocrates. Les élites turques et le pouvoir, Paris, Dalloz, 2007.