Linking the Agenda-Setting and Decision-Making Stages of the Policy Process in the European Union

The EU policy process is commonly viewed as a series of stages through which actors’ policy demands are transformed into policy outputs and outcomes, which subsequently affect the development of new demands. The linkages between the various stages remain under-theorized, as many studies examine each stage in isolation. We contribute to theory formation and empirical analysis by examining the linkages between the preparatory agenda-setting stage and the decision-making stage in the European Union’s legislative arena. Our theory of the linkages between these two stages develops and integrates prominent theories of agenda-setting, interest group influence, legislative procedures, and informal bargaining. We integrate these theories by identifying their implications for the preparatory agenda-setting stage, the decision-making stage and the nexus between the two. We formulate testable propositions on variation in the relative power of the formal agenda-setter, in this case the European Commission, in the decision-making stage relative to the other actors with formal decision power. We assess the claim that the Commission’s power in the decision-making stage is derived in part from its extensive consultations with interest groups at the preparatory stage. Our empirical analysis examines events before and after the Commission formulates and sends a legislative proposal to the Council of the EU and European Parliament. Before the release of the proposal, we examine the preparatory agenda-setting stage in which interest groups are consulted. After the release of the proposal, we focus on the decision-making stage in which the Council and the EP discuss the proposal. Our empirical analyses examine 26 legislative acts across eight policy areas and provide information about stakeholders participating in the consultations preceding the release of proposals as well as the policy demands of the Commission, each Member State and the EP at the decision-making stage.