Committee governance in the European Union

Abstract:

Recognising that committees play too important a role in the integration process to be ignored, comitology has recently received greater attention and has become the object of greater academic scrutiny. This volume brings together an international group of experts from a number of disciplinary backgrounds to provide a comprehensive account of the role played by committees in the European Union. The book looks at committees in the context of inter-institutional relations based on the recognition that the relationships between Commission, Council, Parliament and national authorities are crucial to the understanding of European policy-making.

A number of case studies covering monetary policy, trade, environment, spatial planning and foreign policy, examine the role of committees in specific areas. These are framed by broader perspectives which provide theoretical, statistical, and normative analyses of the phenomenon of committee governance.

The chapters are: Theoretical perspectives on administrative interaction in the European Union; A cross-sectoral view of comitology: incidences, issues and implications; Parliamentary oversight of executive power: what role for the European Parliament in comitology; Postcards from the edge of integration? The role of committees in EU environment policy-making; In the maelstrom of change: the Article 113 Committee in the governance of external economic policy; The Committee on spatial development: formulating a spatial perspective in an institutional vacuum; Governing by committee: the case of monetary policy; Committees in common: committee governance and CFSP; Government by committee: three principles of evaluation.

This book would be of particular interest to students of European integration.

Thomas Christiansen is Professor of European Studies and Jean Monnet Lecturer in European Studies in the Department of International Relations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Emil Kirchner is Jean Monnet Professor of European Political Integration in the Department of Government at the University of Essex.