Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A formal model of delegation in the European Union
- 3 Data and longitudinal analysis
- 4 Decision rules, preferences and policy complexity
- 5 Delegation in the European Union: quantitative analysis
- 6 Delegation in the European Union: case studies
- 7 The delegation preferences of the European Parliament
- 8 Conclusion
- References
- Index
2 - A formal model of delegation in the European Union
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 A formal model of delegation in the European Union
- 3 Data and longitudinal analysis
- 4 Decision rules, preferences and policy complexity
- 5 Delegation in the European Union: quantitative analysis
- 6 Delegation in the European Union: case studies
- 7 The delegation preferences of the European Parliament
- 8 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
Legislation and implementation are heavily intertwined in any political system. Legislators enact policies keeping in mind the structure and preferences of bureaucracies. Administrators implement policies within the boundaries set by the legislature, but also with a view to achieving their own objectives. European policy makers face similar challenges. When they design EU statutes, the legislators delegate powers to the administrators in order to rely on their expert execution but, at the same time, they need to make sure that the policies are implemented faithfully. Administrators may have their own policy objectives, but these are constrained by the requirements set by EU law.
This chapter introduces a formal model of the politics of delegation in the EU. The model produces eleven propositions that will be grouped and reformulated into thirteen testable hypotheses in Chapters 5–7. Hereafter, I introduce the model informally. The following sections will present it in more technical terms. The reader who is less interested in technicalities can skip to the conclusion and Table 2.1 which maps the propositions onto the hypotheses and lists the chapters where they are tested.
As the excerpts from EU law listed in Chapter 1 clearly illustrate, the model starts with the premise that EU legislators can rely on two paths for policy implementation: the Commission and national administrations. This choice is not often put in stark terms. Frequently, it is a matter of relative reliance on these two types of bureaucratic actors.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Powers of the UnionDelegation in the EU, pp. 20 - 78Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007