Efficiency or credibility? Testing the two logics of delegation to the European Commission

Abstract:

This article critically elaborates Majone's argument that there are two logics underlying the delegation of powers to the European Commission: the logic of efficiency and the logic of credibility. It analyses 601 provisions of secondary legislation and suggests a method to distinguish the two rationales. It then correlates executive powers with statutory constraints. A surprising result is that these constraints are more associated, in general, with credibility-based than with efficiency-based delegation; however, statutory constraints that facilitate control by national state actors are more likely to be associated with efficiency-based delegation. The article concludes by emphasising that different strategies of control are related to different underlying motivations to delegate.