Five Years after Lisbon: Explaining the Production of Reasoned Opinions by National Parliaments

The Early Warning system provides national parliaments with an autonomous position in EU decision-making. Five years after the Lisbon Treaty was adopted, national parliaments have developed procedures for using these new direct instruments. Also, the first data about usage of the EWS are known, yielding a picture of variegated use. This paper asks the question how the variant production of Reasoned Opinions can be explained. In doing so, it adopts a multi-method approach. To this end, three explanatory approaches are used: a delegation, cultural, and negotiation perspective. After a multivariate explanatory analysis of all 41 chambers, it carries out an in-depth analysis of nine parliaments, using qualitative interview data. The main finding is that the explanations for usage of the EWS interrelate in unforeseen ways in particular parliaments, leading to an intricate pattern of equifinality.