Reconfiguring Europe: Long-term changes in EU institutional and inter-institutional politics (I)

Abstract

Over the last decade, the European Union (EU) has operated under conditions of near-continuous crisis, from the pandemic to geopolitical, energy, financial, and rule-of-law challenges. This panel examines long-term transformations in EU institutional and inter-institutional politics, focusing on gradual changes in power relations, governance practices, and political authority. It explores how EU institutions and key actors in European policymaking have evolved, investigating how decision-making processes and leadership roles are reshaped over time. The panel emphasises shifts in power across actors and institutions, from the emergence of new centers of political authority to the reconfiguration of the relationship between the centre and the periphery of the EU. It also highlights the discursive and gendered dimensions of institutional change. The papers included in the panel demonstrate how authority and legitimacy are constructed and potentially contested. In doing so, the panel links formal and informal institutional change with broader societal transformations. It contributes to debates on European integration by showing that long-term institutional evolution, rather than episodic crises alone, fundamentally transformed the EU polity not only by altering competences and procedures, but also by redistributing authority, recalibrating interinstitutional relations, and reshaping discursive hierarchies. The panel thus offers an integrated account of how Europe governs, negotiates, and represents itself under conditions of persistent stress and institutional ambiguity.

Title	Details
Gender, Language, and Leadership in High-Level European Politics: A Comparative Analysis Across EU Institutions	View Paper Details
Gendering Trilogues - a conceptual framework and preliminary findings about inter-institutional negotiations	View Paper Details
Between entrance point and talking shop – the communication of European Parliament and European Council Presidents	View Paper Details
The Shifting Sands of European Integration: From Judicialization to Central Banking Hegemony	View Paper Details