Controlling comitology : accountability in a multi-level system / Gijs Jan Brandsma.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brandsma, Gijs.

Series:

Palgrave studies in European Union politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Decision making.

Legislative bodies.

Delegated legislation.

European Union countries--Politics and government.

European Union countries.

Politics and government.

Comity of nations.

Delegated legislation--European Union countries.

Legislative bodies--European Union countries.

Decision making--European Union countries.

Physical Description:

ix, 184 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Summary:

Comitology is the most important form of multi-level governance in the European Union. Member State and Commission actors together create roughly 2,500 executive acts per year, amounting to about half of all European laws together. But to what degree is this unknown and invisible committee system being held to account for its decisions? This book for the first time addresses accountability in truly multi-level terms. It looks at accountability foreseen in the constitutional set-up of the comitology system, as well as at how this plays out in practice at the European level and within national governments. Controlling Comitology combines findings from different levels of government, and analyses a plurality of data sources including interviews, survey data of committee participants and their superiors, legislative databases and meeting documents. The book argues that accountability has steadily improved over time, but also that unexpected gaps have emerged. This books is important reading for student and scholars of comitology as well as accountability and law-making in the European Union. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Hidden Power 1

2 Comitology: The System, the Committees and Their Participants 18

3 Accountability and Multi-Level Governance 44

4 System-Level Accountability: Conflict Over Control 63

5 Committee-Level Accountability: System Meets Practice 93

6 Participant-Level Accountability: Substantive Talks and Deafening Silence 119

7 Comitology and Multi-Level Accountability 145.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1137319631

9781137319630

OCLC:

842208517