Bringing Europe into Question - A Longitudinal Study of Domestic Legislators' Questioning Behaviour in EU Affairs

Senninger, Roman (2015) Bringing Europe into Question - A Longitudinal Study of Domestic Legislators' Questioning Behaviour in EU Affairs. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper examines parliamentary questioning behavior of political parties with relation to the European Union. Using a unique data collection of parliamentary questions from the Comparative Agendas Project (CAP) I provide new evidence on the extent of parliamentary involvement in EU affairs in Belgium and Denmark. In one respect EU-related questions seem not to differ from other issues: The number of questions a party asks depends on whether it is currently in government or in opposition. Second, there is evidence that parties follow issue-based strategies. The analysis reveals that party Euroskepticism has a positive effect on EU-related questioning behavior. The results have implications for the study of parliamentary scrutiny in European Union affairs and our knowledge about party politics inside domestic legislatures.

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