European Union Public Policy
Professor John Wilton
Lecture 4
Policy decision-making: institutional analysis
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
  STRUCTURE
        (in form of institutions)
   versus
      AGENCY
(in form of role of individuals and groups)
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
Analysis of E.U. public policy ‘Agenda-setting’ and policy formulation = ‘bottom up’
- policy networks
      +
- role of E.U. institutions
and structures
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
National Parliaments = final policy-making and decision making institutions
European Parliament = slightly different = considerable/increasing influence over policy-making
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
Challenge = find a mixture of policy decision-making roles for all 29 Parliaments (28 Member states
Parliaments + European Parliament)
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
-
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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.
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
Differences in roles and influence of the European Parliament and Member state national
parliaments:
 - almost all public expenditure and social spending controlled and exercised 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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
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 public policy areas, including employment policy, social policy, equal opportunities
policy, and broad aspects of environment policy
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European Union Public Policy
Lecture 4
-Over past 30 years (since introduction of direct elections in 1989) E.P. become increasingly
influential in E.U. public policy decision-making
- has significant influence over E.U. budget + over appointment of EU Commissioners
- important co-legislator in public policy areas
- has considerable agenda-setting influence
- increasingly attractive focus for lobby and interest groups (epistemic communities, policy
networks)
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