The Role of the European Parliament in Europe’s Integration and Parliamentarization Process

Abstract

Over the last 50 years, the European Union (EU) has been an incredible workshop for research. Scholars have produced numerous studies on both the European integration process and the EU. However, the main body of theoretical research has largely been focused on the Council, the Commission and the Court of Justice. Indeed, the Commission, a “hybrid” institution combining agenda setting and control powers, has drawn much attention from specialists, who have seen it as the most original part of the European project. Since its creation in the 1980s, the Court has also been a focal point for researchers. The considerable impact of its initial decisions and the mysterious veil enshrouding its deliberations have literally fascinated political scientists. International Relations (IR) specialists, for their part, have been more inclined to study the Council, as the locus for the defense of national interests. Conversely, the European Parliament (EP), regarded as the most banal component of the Union’s political system, has remained rather neglected by scholars, all the more so as studies have mainly focused on its somewhat lackluster characteristics. Though there has recently been renewed interest in the activities of the EP, scholars have privileged the study of European elections, ¹ the analysis of how the EP exerts its powers² and the way in which majorities and coalitions are made and unmade. ³