Research Papers

This paper addresses the question: under what conditions are political parties at the EU level (Europarties) able to affect the EU decision-making process? It then aims at discovering the factors which foster or, conversely, set a limit to the capacity of the Europarties to influence the outcome of the EU policy-making process. In order to do so, it will specifically focus upon the 'ordinary legislative procedure' and, in particular, on its informalization. This recent development of codecision, decided increasingly behind closed doors by a limited number of actors from the two co-legislators of the EU, calls into question the role of the Europarties. Do they play any coordination role? Are they reducing bargaining uncertainty between the Council and the EP? Addressing these questions will bring a contribution both to the literature on Europarties, casting light on their neglected role in inter-institutional coordination, and on the literature on EU decision-making and, in particular, on the most recent developments of the ordinary legislative procedure.