The European Parliament : a giant with feet of clay? Citation for published version (APA): Dobbels, M. J. (2013). The European Parliament : a giant with feet of clay?. Maastricht University. https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20131204md Document status and date: Published: 01/01/2013 DOI: 10.26481/dis.20131204md Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.umlib.nl/taverne-license Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 24 Sep. 2021 The European Parliament A giant with feet of clay? Copyright Mathias Dobbels, Maastricht 2013 Omslagontwerp Iris Maertens The European Parliament A giant with feet of clay? PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Maastricht, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. dr. L. L. G. Soete volgens het besluit van het College van Decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op woensdag 4 december 2013 om 12.00 uur door MATHIAS DOBBELS Promotores Prof. dr. T. Christiansen Prof. dr. C. Neuhold Beoordelingscommissie Prof. dr. S. Vanhoonacker (voorzitter) Prof. dr. T. Blom Dr. R. Corbett Prof. dr. B. Rittberger (Lüdwig-Maximilians-Universität München) Prof. dr. M. Shackleton Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank the three people that were key in this project: Sophie Vanhoonacker for getting me on board, advising me throughout the years and giving crucial feedback in the final stages; Christine Neuhold for the many hours she spent reading and re-reading my writings and the ever useful feedback and ideas that followed; and Thomas Christiansen for his admirable capacity to always ask the right questions, spot the weaknesses and steer me into the right direction. Without the perfect balance of guidance and freedom that Thomas, Christine and Sophie gave, this thesis would not exist. Second, I would like to thank the Marie Curie Initial Training Network on Inter- institutional Cooperation in the EU (INCOOP) for providing the excellent circumstances under which I could write this thesis. A very special thank you goes out to Michael Shackleton, who spent many hours on the train and elsewhere reading draft chapters of this piece. The advice and insights drawn from his experience and expertise were an invaluable source of inspiration. Thanks to INCOOP I did not just have two, but a whole range of excellent supervisors who commented on parts of this thesis. Julie Smith, Berthold Rittberger, Michael Smith and Renaud Dehousse all provided useful ideas and feedback for which I thank them. Third, I would like to thank a number of people whose support and help were important in this process. Peter Van Kemseke for commenting on my draft proposal in the very early stages of this project and for putting up with my whining on academia. Didier Seeuws for being an excellent and inspirational boss during my time at the Permrep. Herman Claeys, László Kristóffy and Bart Staes for their unvarnished insights and contacts in the case study on Novel Foods. Peter Van Eetvelde for initiating me into the wonderful world of Word-layout and formatting. Iris Maertens for drawing the most original cover for the thesis’ book version. Anne-Claire Marangoni and Marie De Somer for being my ‘compagnons de route’. And finally, last but never least, Milica Petrovic for being the center when I spin away. All errors that remain in this thesis are, as ever, the responsibility of the author alone. 5 List of abbreviations Committees of the European Parliament mentioned in this thesis AFCO Constitutional Affairs AFET External Relations AGRI Agriculture and Rural Development BUDG Budgets CONT Budgetary Control CULT Culture and Education DEVE Development ECON Economic and Monetary Affairs EMPL Employment and Social Affairs ENVI Environment Public Health and Food Safety FEMM Women’s Rights and Gender Equality IMCO Internal Market and Consumer Protection INTA International Trade ITRE Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy JURI Legal Affairs LIBE Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs PECH Fisheries PETI Petitions REGI Regional Development TRAN Transport and Tourism Political groups in the European Parliament in alphabetical order ALDE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe ECR European Conservatives and Reformists EFD European Freedom and Democracy EPP European People’s Party Greens/EFA Greens/European Free Alliance GUE/NGL European United Left/Nordic Green Left S&D Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Other abbreviations ACP African Caribbean and Pacific BEUC Bureau européen des unions de Consommateurs BNP British National Party CESAGEN Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics 6 CIAA International Commission for Food Industries Copa-Cogeca European Farmers Organisation Coreper Committee of Permanent Representatives DG EXPOL Directorate General for external policies DG IPOL Directorate General for internal policies DG Directorate General ECSC European Coal and Steel and Community ECU European Currency Unit EEA European Environmental Agency EEAS European External Action Service EFSA European Food Safety Authority EGEST European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies EIPA European Institute of Public Administration ENA Ecole nationale d’administration EP European Parliament EPSO European Personnel Selection Office EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations GATT the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GM genetically modified GMO genetically modified organism IFOAM International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IGC intergovernmental conference IoN Institute on Nanotechnology IT Information Technology LSE London School of Economics MEP Member of European Parliament MFF multi-annual financial framework NGO non governmental organisation SCENIHR Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks SCFCAH Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures STOA Science and Technology Options Assessment unit TBT Technical Barriers to Trade TFEU Treaty on Functioning of the European Union UKIP UK Independence Party US United States WHO World Health Organisation WTO World Trade Organisation 7 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Topic and research question 15 1.2 Thesis structure 18 Chapter 2 Powers and Capabilities: The European Parliament in its academic and historical context 21 2.1 The European Parliament : evolution of powers and role 22 2.1.1 Ever evolving formal powers 22 2.1.2 Informally gaining power 24 2.2. “Swiss cheese”: an analysis of the relevant academic literature on the European Parliament’s powers and the gaps therein 27 2.3 A fundamental capability for legislatures to exercise powers: administrative organization 30 2.3.1 Administrative organisation of legislatures – an American perspective 31 2.4 Literature on the administrative capabilities of the European Parliament 35 2.3.1 The European Parliament’s administrative system: who, what and how many? 35 2.3.2 Tasks and roles 37 2.5 Concluding remarks 39 Chapter 3 Measuring the capability to exercise powers: an analytical framework tailored for inter-institutional negotiations 41 3.1 Central research question 42 3.2 March and Olsen’s capabilities: a conceptual framework to assess the ability to exercise powers 43 3.2.1 Capability factor 1: Rights and Authorities 44 3.2.2 Capability factor 2: Resources 45 3.2.3 Capability factor 3: Expertise 47 3.2.4 Capability factor 4: Organising Capacity 48 3.2.5 Interconnectedness and interaction between capabilities 50 3.3 Methodology and operationalization: assessing the four capabilities 52 3.3.1 How to assess influence on outcomes comprehensively: process tracing as the catch-all method 52 3.3.2 How to assess the capabilities of the EP: concrete operationalization of the four capabilities 57 9 3.4 Case studies 62 3.4.1 Justification of cases 62 3.4.2 Background on cases 64 3.4.3 Concluding remarks 70 Chapter 4 The Baseline: