Negotiating in times of polycrisis. Evidence from the EU

Abstract

Presenter: Selma Bendjaballah Abstract: Negotiation is crucial in the European Union. Operating with 27 Member States, the EU’s institutional machine aims at reaching compromise among conflicting preferences. The numerical increase of Member States make negotiations even more complex. Besides, it might be harder to reach out negotiations in a context of polycrises. We already know a lot about the role of governments’ initial preferences in the outcome of negotiations (Hösli, 2008). However, the extent to which policy areas design the shape of negotiations in times of crises is less explored. With this aim, we describe factors that are likely to characterize the process of negotiation in the institutional triangle in two policy areas where political stakes are high (and the need for negotiation seems higher as well)- Environment and Justice. As it is common in the literature to make a distinction between the pre-negotiation phase and the phase of formal negotiations, for the purpose of this paper, we will focus only on the phase of formal negotiation, at the Council and EP level. We run the analysis by providing statistics of elements likely to characterize the negotiation process, from the reception of the proposal by the Council to the final adoption by both the Council and the EP. Thanks to the Observatory of European Institutions, a database covering almost 30 years of decision making process, we will show that there are multiple negotiation patterns across policy fields- which leads us to conclude that the overall picture of negotiation in the EU looks very blurred.