"The Europeanization of national parliamentary scrutiny: Theoretical models and empirical evidence from Germany and the Netherlands"

Holzhacker, Ronald. (2001) "The Europeanization of national parliamentary scrutiny: Theoretical models and empirical evidence from Germany and the Netherlands" . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2001 (7th), May 31-June 2, 2001, pages 26, Madison, Wisconsin.

Abstract

The essay proposes two theoretical models that hypothesize the critical variables that explain differences in the power of the institutional structures for parliamentary scrutiny, and the political processes that occur within these institutions, in the member states. The main argument is that the structures and processes of parliament scrutiny are dependent on the strategic incentives of parliamentary party groups to create and effectively utilize these institutions for their own purposes. These incentives are dependent on the risks and opportunities that the EU poses to government stability and re-election of a political party. The essay uses these models to compare national parliamentary scrutiny over EU matter in Germany and the Netherlands ... [t]he study concludes that it is not only the formal institutional procedures which determine the characteristics of scrutiny over EU issues in a given member state, but the organization of its parliamentary party groups and the interaction between governing and opposition parties which are critical.