Executive–Legislative (Im)balance in the European Union

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Ten years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, has executive predominance in EU-related matters disappeared? How have executive-legislative relations in the EU evolved over a crisis-ridden decade, from the financial and migration crises, to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic? The Lisbon Treaty could be expected to lead to the re-balancing of powers in favour of parliaments, for it significantly enhanced the roles of both the European Parliament and national parliaments. A decade later the contributions to this edited volume examine – for thefirst time in such an extensive breadth and from a multi-level and cross-policy perspective –whether this has actually materialised. They highlight that diverging tendencies may be observed, and that important variations over time have occurred, depending particularly on the occurrence of crises. As stated in the fascinating epilogue by Peter Lindseth (University of Connecticut School of Law), this is an ‘admirably coherent collective volume, whose contributions provide an excellent overview of key aspects of executive-legislative relations in the European system since the Treaty of Lisbon’. This edited volume will hence be of interest to both academics and practitioners interested in future reforms designed at the European and national levels to improve the EU’s democratic quality. Volume 6 in the series Parliamentary Democracy in Europe Acknowledgements Contents List of Contributors List of Figures and Tables Table of Cases Introduction: Executive–Legislative (Im)balance in the European Union I. The Need for a Re-assessment II. Parliaments in the Pre-Lisbon Era: The Overall Domination of Executive Powers III. Executive-Legislative (Im)balance 10 Years after Lisbon: Between Re-balancing and Exacerbation IV. An Ever-Evolving Balance and Varied Trends: The Main Findings of this Volume V. The Way Forward Part I: Executive–Legislative Relations
from a Multi-level Perspective 1. Recalibration of Executive–Legislative Relations in the European Union:
Strategies Inspired by the Trilemma of Democracy, Sovereignty and Integration I. Introduction: The EU as an Incomplete and Underperforming Representative Democracy II. The Trilemma of Democracy, Sovereignty and Integration III. Renationalisation: A Retreat to a Perfect National Parliamentary Democracy? IV. Federalisation: A Leap Forward to Perfect European-Level Democracy? V. Multi-level Parliamentarisation: Activating Parliaments and Representatives within and Across Levels VI. Conclusion: Towards a Multi-level Playing Field? 2. The Anticipation Function of Interinstitutional Agreements: A Smooth Mechanism to Recalibrate Executive–Legislative Relations I. Introduction II. The IIAs in the EU Institutional System III. The Anticipation Function of IIAs IV. The Anticipation Function of IIAs in Decision-Making Processes V. Conclusion 3. Divided Accountability of the Council and the European Council: The Challenge of Collective Parliamentary Oversight I. Introduction: The Challenge of Accountability for the Council and the European Council II. The Intergovernmental Accountability Challenge in Response to Current Trends of European Integration III. The Council and the European Council vis-a-vis the Two Channels of Parliamentary Representation IV. The Polarised Chain of Accountability and Delegation Featuring the Council and the European Council V. Strengthening the Chain of Accountability through Interparliamentary Cooperation VI. Conclusions: Collective Accountability or Collective Oversight of the Council and the European Council? 4. Executive–Legislative Relations and Delegated Powers in the European Union: Continuous Recalibration? I. Introduction II. The Evolution of the European Commission's Delegated Powers III. The Practice of Legislative Control of the Commission's Delegated Powers Post-Lisbon IV. Concluding Remarks: Recalibrating Executive-Legislative Relations in the Area of Delegated Powers? Part II: Executive–Legislative (Im)balance
within Member States 5. The Implementation of EU Law in Member States and its Impact on the Relationship between Parliaments and Governments I. Introduction II. Transposition in the Post-Lisbon Era: More Constraints for Member States? III. Parliaments in National Transposition Procedures IV. Wrongful Transposition and its Impact on National Procedures: Sanctions as Drivers for Institutional Reforms at the Member State Level? V. The Necessity of (Pre-)legislative Involvement Mechanisms VI. Concluding Remarks 6. National Strategies of EU Law Transposition: Does the Distinction between
Legislative and Executive Measures Matter in Practice? I. Introduction II. (Im)balance between Executive and Legislative Power and the Choice between Transposition Strategies III. Research Design, Case Studies and Data IV. Results and Discussion V. Conclusion 7. Failed Constitutional Reforms and Silent Constitutional Transformations
in Executive–Legislative Relations: The Case of Italy I. Introduction II. Executive-Legislative Relations in the Italian Constitution (1948): A Mildly Rationalised Parliamentary Form of Government III. Attempts to Reform the Form of Government of the Italian Constitution in the Last 35 Years IV. The Silent Transformation of Executive-Legislative Relations and its Causes V. The Changes in Electoral Legislation VI. The Influence of the EU VII. Conclusion: A Still-Incomplete, Unbalanced and Unstable Evolution? 8. Short-Lived Reparliamentarisation? A Year of Efforts to ‘Take Back Control’ from
the Executive in the Brexit House of Commons I. Introduction II. From Passive to Active Legislature? III. Fourth Time Lucky: The 'Meaningful Votes' IV. The Executive's Limitations to Parliamentary Power and Mechanisms to Respond V. Conclusions Part III: Executive–Legislative (Im)balance and Variations Across Policy Areas 9. How the Debates on Trade Policy Helped Rebalance the Executive–Legislative
Relationship in Favour of the European Parliament I. Introduction II. Seeking Legitimacy in the CCP III. CETA, ISDS and the Instrumentalisation of Legitimacy IV. Conclusions 10. A Temporary Recalibration of Executive–Legislative
Relations on EU Trade Agreements? The Case of National
and Regional Parliaments on CETA and TTIP I. Introduction II. On the 'Mixity' of EU Trade Agreements and the Powers of Parliaments III. National and Regional Parliaments' Individual Powers: Ex Ante Scrutiny and the Challenges to Ratification IV. Interparliamentary Cooperation on CETA and TTIP V. Conclusion 11. Exploring Interaction between National Parliaments and the European
Parliament in EU Trade Policy I. Introduction II. The State of the Art and Theoretical Expectations III. Executive–EP Interaction IV. Executive–NP Interactions V. Concluding Discussion 12. The European Parliament’s Role in the Operation of Trade Agreements:
Parliamentary Control and Executive–Legislative Balance in External Action I. Introduction II. The Role of the EP in the Birth and Life of Trade Agreements III. Strengthening the Executive by Delegating Powers to Treaty Bodies IV. Constraining Delegation to Treaty Bodies V. Mechanisms to Strengthen the Role of the EP in the Operation of Treaty Bodies VI. Conclusion 13. Representative Democracy in Financial Crisis Governance:
New Challenges in the EU Multi-level System I. Introduction II. The Normative and Theoretical Bases of the Argument III. Budget Supervision: Six-Pack and Two-Pack IV. Financial Aid V. The External Judgement VI. Concluding Discussion 14. Towards the ‘Normalisation’ of Security? Executive–Legislative Relations
in an Expanding EU Security and Defence Policy I. Introduction II. Crisis, Security and Democracy Beyond the State III. Scrutinising the CSDP’s First Steps (2003–08): A Dynamic Parliament Playing Catch-up IV. Scrutinising a Sluggish CSDP (2009–14): A Defensive Parliament for the Post-Lisbon Re-organisation V. Scrutinising the CSDP’s Relaunch (2015–19): A Divided Parliament for a Defence Union? VI. Conclusion 15. The Balance of Powers and the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy I. Introduction II. The Balance of Powers and the CFSP III. Executive Power and the CFSP IV. Parliamentary Power and the CFSP V. Fine-Tuning the Balance of Powers VI. Conclusion 16. All Buzz, No Bite: The Parliamentarisation of the Area
of Freedom, Security and Justice I. Introduction II. Dynamics of Decision-Making and the Role of European Parliaments III. Old Habits Die Hard: An Increased But Still Limited Role for the EP IV. National Parliaments' Scrutiny of AFSJ Issues V. Conclusion 17. Epilogue: Executives, Legislatures and the Semantics
of EU Public Law: A Pandemic-Inflected Perspective I. Introduction: The Coronavirus and Executive-Technocratic Governance II. Legitimate-Compulsory Mobilisation and the Locus of 'Legislative' Power in European Governance III. A Radical Question IV. Part I: Executive-Legislative Relations from a Multi-level Perspective V. Part II: Executive-Legislative (Im)balance within Member States VI. Part III: Executive-Legislative (Im)Balance and Variations across Policy Areas VII. Conclusion: Towards a Critical Juncture in European Integration? Index