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The European Parliament: The Challenge of Political Responsibility1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Helen Wallace
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Extract

MUCH OF THE DEBATE ON THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN Parliament has focused on two questions: how far it will or can develop along the lines familiar from national parliamentary experience; and whether it will be able to insert itself effectively into the decision-making processes of the European Communities (EC). The evolution of the Parliament is well summarized in the paper by Hans Nord and John Taylor, as are the constitutional powers and political levereage the might contribute to an enhanced role in the future. A wealth of other studies recently published further amplify the constraints on the Parliament and the opportunities available to it for the gradual extension of its functions. Their conclusions range from the view that Parliament is so heavily circumscribed as to have little scope for effectiveness to the belief that Parliament will gradually enlarge its area of influence, until in practice it has gained a significant political role. Some commentators regard constitutional change, with a formal extension of parliamentary powers, as a necessary condition of an enhanced role, while others anticipate that constitutional change is more likely to take place only to recognise de iure an actual increase in the political authority of the Parliament.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , 01 October 1979 , pp. 433 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1979

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References

2 See, for example, Coombes, D., The Future of the European Parliament, Policy Studies Institute, London, 1979, Herman, V. and Lodge, J., The European Parliament and the European Community, Macmillan, London, 1978 Google Scholar, Fitzmaunce, J., The European Parliament, Saxon House, Farnborough, 1978 Google Scholar, and Marquand, D., A Parliament for Europe, Jonathan Cape, London, 1979 Google Scholar.

3 See the discussion in Coombes, chapters III and V.

4 Though the Council is formally a single institution in practice the separate specialist Councils operate with considerable autonomy in their own fields. See Edwards, G. and Wallace, H., The Council of Ministers and its President‐in‐Office, Federal Trust, London, 1977 Google Scholar.

5 For a detailed account see EEC Budget, 2nd Report of the Select Committee on the European Communities, House of Lords, Session 1979–80.

6 The issue of fairness has been raised primarily in connection with the Community Budget and net national contributions; redistribution has for many years been an underlying issue, made more live by the debate between the ‘prosperous’ and less prosperous’ in the context of the European Monetary System; and selectiveness has begun to figure in discussions of regional, industrial and even agricultural policies.