Intra- and Interinstitutional Leadership in the EU: An Assessment of the Better Law Making Agenda of the European Commission and the Secretariat General of the European Parliament

This paper explores the intra- and interinstitutional implications of the 2016 ‘Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law Making’ and the European Parliament Secretariat General’s ‘Full Policy Cycle Strategy’. The former was initiated by the Commission and includes provisions for a reinforced cooperation in the Union's annual and multiannual programming. The latter comprises a stronger focus of the EP on the whole legislative life cycle from agenda setting to consultation, legislation and scrutiny. To this end, new units in the EP’s Secretariat General provide MEPs with a variety of briefing documents. While both initiatives intend to improve the quality of legislation, there has so far been no analysis of their consequences for intra- and interinstitutional power relations (for the intra- and interinstitutional consequences of Juncker’s introduction of seven vice-presidents responsible for the coordination of projects see my article in JCMS, 2017, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcms.12648/abstract). Based on document analysis and 40 interviews with officials from the Commission, the Council Secretariat, the EP and MEPs, this paper presents four key findings. First, the inter-institutional agreement on better law making, and therein in particular the joint declaration of Council, Commission and EP on the annual priority list, has strengthened relais actors inside their institution vis-à-vis colleagues from other departments. Second, the frequent interaction during the preparation of the joint declaration has contributed to the development of an interinstitutional team spirit and common leadership of the involved actors from the Commission, the EP and the Council Secretariat General vis-à-vis (reluctant) member states. Third, the enhanced role of the EP’s Secretariat General has contributed to greater competition with the party groups, with both sides vying to influence the discourses in the EP committees. Finally, the increased level of expertise provided by the EP’s Secretariat General has strengthened the EP’s negotiation team in the triloge negotiations with Council and Commission.