Bulletin n. 1-2/2014
November 2014
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Maurer Andreas
    Die Kreationsfunktion des Europäischen Parlaments im Spannungsfeld zwischen Politisierungsimpulsen und Systemerfordernissen
    in Zeitschrift für Politik , Jahrgang 61, Heft 3, 2014 ,  2014
    Summary The elective function of the European Parliament torn between politicization pulses and system requirements The proclaimed strategy by European political parties to personalize and politicize the European election campaigns by nominating top candidates for the office of the President of the European Commission has revived the debate between the European Parliament and the Heads of State and Government about their respective recruiting powers within the EU. However, the analytical concentration on the nomination and election of the Commission’s President obstructs the understanding of the complex, multi-facetted and multi-levelled investiture of the European Commission. This paper therefore undertakes a more comprehensive analysis of the »elective« function of the EP including its interactions with other parliamentary functions. The study draws on contractual norms and intra-parliamentary developed rules to determine the make-up and institutional context of Parliament’s elective function. The analysis concludes that Parliament’s elective function developed gradually and against the resistance of member state governments into a supra-nationalization and potential politicization of the European elections. The theoretical construction of a hierarchical relationship between a party-politically organized parliamentary majority and a Commission that is continuously backed up by »its« parliamentary faction or coalition is contrary to the real functions and the governance structures of the EU’s political system. A constellation between majority and opposition remains alien to the EP and the EP-Commission-European Council relations, as there is no unified and sole executive, which depends on parliamentary support or control on the basis of party political considerations.
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