Shaping the EU from Within: Interinstitutional Micro-Politics

The paper presents an approach for analysing interinstitutional micro-politics as a means of shaping the EU system from within. The EU’s institutional system continually develops and changes. This process is driven by conceptual inventions and conceptual and political controversies. Part of these have related to treaty changes, EU law acts or court judgements. In addition, there is another type of actions that have shaped the EU as a democratic polity. The EU’s institutions interact with each other, often via power struggles aiming at strengthening or not losing positions and influence. I define these actions as the EU’s interinstitutional micro-politics. These shape the EU’s political regime from within. In line with a reflexive theoretical background, this means including such research dimensions as ideas, agency, and political actions.