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Parliamentary scrutiny of EU law proposals in Denmark: why do governments request a negotiation mandate? IHS Political Science Series No. 127, February 2012

Finke, Daniel and Melzer, Marius (2012) Parliamentary scrutiny of EU law proposals in Denmark: why do governments request a negotiation mandate? IHS Political Science Series No. 127, February 2012. [Policy Paper]

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    Abstract

    Political scientists have been concerned about the loss of power of national parliaments through the shift of competences to the EU level. In this respect the Danish system of parliamentary scrutiny has been recommended as being highly effective. In this paper, we explain why the Folketing issues negotiation mandates on some EU law proposals whereas the government can freely chose its negotiation position on other proposals. Our empirical analysis of Danish scrutiny decision between 2006 and 2008 uncovers three answers. First, in contrast to other scrutiny measures, most of which can be initiated by single party groups, the issuance of negotiation mandates is a collective decision. Specifically, it requires the consent of a majority of deputies in the Folketing. As a consequence, the position of the minority government must win the support of a third party. This third party tends to requests a negotiation mandate if it fears that collusion between the government and its international partners might violate its interests. Second, the leading minister requests a negotiation mandate if a majority of Danish parties stand united against an adverse majority in the Council. Third, the coalition partner requests a negotiation mandate to control the leading minister in case of significant intra coalition dissent.

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    Item Type: Policy Paper
    Uncontrolled Keywords: European Union; Denmark; coalition building; parliamentary scrutiny; minority government; national parliament.
    Subjects for non-EU documents: Countries > Denmark
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > political affairs > governance: EU & national level
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > Institute for Advanced Studies (Vienna), Department of Political Science > IHS Political Science Series
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 23 Feb 2012 07:18
    Number of Pages: 38
    Last Modified: 31 Jul 2014 22:38
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/33634

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