European Union Public Policy
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 7
Policy decision-making 1: institutional analysis

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
1. Agenda-setting
- a multitude of E.U. public policy agenda avenues open to policy ‘actors’;
2. Public policy formulation
- a range of policy-making venues within which E.U. public policy is formulated

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
  STRUCTURE
        (in form of institutions)
   versus
      AGENCY
(in form of role of individuals and groups)

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Analysis of E.U. public policy ‘Agenda-setting’ and policy formulation = ‘bottom up’
- policy networks
      +
- role of E.U. institutions
and structures

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Analysis of E.U. public policy decision-making
- focus on structure/institutional element
- focus on European Parliament
    - and its relationship with the Council of Ministers and the national Parliaments of the Member
states

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
National Parliaments = final policy-making and decision making institutions
European Parliament = slightly different = considerable/increasing influence over policy-making

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Key issue = what should relationship be between European Parliament and National Member state
Parliaments (especially in policy decision-making)?
1.European Parliament should be transformed into an E.U. federal parliament.
2.National Member state parliaments control Member state governments, who then represent the Member
states in Council of Ministers

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Challenge = find a mixture of policy decision-making roles for all 29 Parliaments (28 Member states
Parliaments + European Parliament)

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
E.U. policy-making and decision-making procedures vary considerably across different policy areas
1. Member states ceded policy-making authority to E.U. institutions in areas such as external
trade, internal market, and CAP – E.U. legislation binding on Member states

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
2. In other policy areas – such as environment, health policy, and regional policies, E.U.
legislation is also binding on Member states
- but in these matters Member states also    have legislation of their own
3. In other policy areas – such as education and culture – the E.U. primarily complements national
policy legislation of the Member states and tries to facilitate co-operation among Member states
-

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
4. In other policy areas – such as civil law, income tax, and social-moral issues such as religion
and abortion – policy decision-making authority remains with Parliaments of Member states and
outside scope of E.U.

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Differences in approach and powers in policy decision-making in different E.U. public policy areas:
-internal market (labour mobility, health and safety in workplace, vocational training, etc.)  =
authority ceded to E.U.
-health policy, environment policy = subject to binding E.U. legislation, but Member states also
have own legislation
-education = E.U. complements national policy of Member states

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Differences in roles and influence of the European Parliament and Member state national
parliaments:
 - almost all public expenditure and social spending controlled by Member states
- E.U. spends less than 5% of the GDP of whole E.U. area
- Member states spend around 40 to 50% of own GDP on public spending

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
European Parliament important in deciding how E.U. spends its money
-as long as it can obtain the necessary majority of members in the European Parliament the E.P. can
both change/amend and block (veto) the E.U. budget proposals
- although E.P. powers to amend E.U. budget restricted to non-compulsory expenditure (i.e. excludes
CAP) – but E.P. has used its powers to add new budget amounts in policy areas

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
e.g., in public policy the E.P. has forced the Council of Ministers to accept increases in funding
for education, training, and social and employment policies in recent years
Key change = ‘co-decision procedure’ agreed in Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 (came into operation on
1st May 1999)
- reduced importance of European   Commission in policy decision-making

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) ‘co-decision procedure’
= if E.P. and Council of Ministers agree, then approval of policy decision by the European
Commission no longer necessary
- used in most policy areas, including   employment policy, social policy, equal   opportunities
policy, and broad aspects of   environment policy

European Union Public Policy
Lecture 7
-Over past 20 years (since introduction of direct elections in mid-1980s) E.P. become increasingly
influential in E.U. public policy decision-making
- has significant influence over E.U. budget
- important co-legislator in most policy areas
- has considerable agenda-setting influence
- increasingly attractive focus for lobby and interest groups (epistemic communities, policy
networks)