Bureaucratisation or Party Politics? Explaining the Level of National EU Policy Coordination in Finland

According to previous research EU governance has strengthened the role of civil servants at the expense of democratically elected office-holders. However, we know relatively little about what explains such alleged empowerment of bureaucrats at the national level. Drawing on the agendas (1995-2012) of the two Finnish inter-ministerial organs established for the coordination of national EU policy - the Cabinet EU Committee and the Committee for EU Affairs - we show that the interests of governing parties are crucial in determining at which level the Finnish national position will be decided: by ministers at the Cabinet EU committee or by civil servants in individual ministries. While established administrative procedures facilitate decentralization, party interests are clearly more important in influencing the level of intra-cabinet EU coordination. The party-driven logic of domestic bureaucratization raises also important questions about the democratic credentials of EU member states.