Legislative agenda-setting: EU institutions, public consultations, and policy legitimacy

Abstract

What actors and factors drive the EU’s legislative agenda? How do EU institutions interact with each other and with other EU and external actors in the agenda-setting process? Why do these different types of interactions take place and what impact do they have? To address these questions, this panel explores inter-institutional relations and consultations in the European Union (EU)’s legislative process. All papers focus on agenda-setting—on conflict, competition, and cooperation between EU institutions; on the European Council’s legislative agenda over time; and on the link between consultation, participation, and legitimacy. All contributions develop and test theoretical arguments, about the drivers of agenda-setting, and about the impact of different governance tools. With two qualitative and two quantitative papers, the panel mixes methods; data analysed includes policy documents—legislative proposals, input from public consultations, conclusions from European Council summits—and interviews. More specifically, the papers zoom in 1) on whether stakeholder participation increases or decreases policy legitimacy; 2) on the factors that best explain the European Council’s legislative priorities; 3) on the interactions between the European Council and the European Commission; 4) on the European Council system’s ability to shape and steer policy-making beyond a crisis. Collectively, the panel aims to address three key questions in legislative agenda-setting. Do the EU’s institutions compete or cooperate on the legislative agenda? Which governance tools effectively drive a legislative agenda for Europe? How can the EU legitimate its agenda across policies, and over time?

Title	Details
With a little help from my friends: How agencies use stakeholders to bolster their authority	View Paper Details
Do consultations matter for stakeholder support for policy proposals? Evidence from the European Union	View Paper Details
The unexpected lawmaker: Explaining the European Council’s legislative agenda-setting	View Paper Details
Setting the EU’s agenda in time of crises: A new perspective on European Council and European Commission relations in the post-Lisbon era	View Paper Details
When ‘NIMBY’ becomes Chefsache Agenda setting and control of the EUCO beyond the immediate crisis	View Paper Details