The Invisible Transformation of the Co-decision Procedure: Problems of Democratic Legitimacy. – with Adrienne Hèritier

The relationship between Council and Parliament within the codecision procedure involves a plethora of informal and semi-formal meetings in which many of the real decisions about legislation are taken, with little scope for public oversight. In the light of the current debate on the future of European Union, the report will address the question what this informalization of the decision-making process means for the legitimacy of the legislative process.

The report was presented at the seminar Striking the Institutional Balance? and is a part of the research project Strategy 2004.

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Other Writing:

Chapter in an Edited Volume

Privatization as State Transformation

Privatization is an ambiguous term covering many loosely related phenomena. In this essay, I focus on one specific aspect of privatization-the privatization of governance. This sidesteps arguments about the presumed efficiency gains of, e.g., turning state-owned entities into for-profit corporations, and highlights the political consequences of privatization-how it takes decisions which had once been within ...
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Essay

Senseless Spying: The National Security Agency’s Self-Defeating Espionage Against the EU – with Abraham Newman

Political leaders in Europe have not been shy in expressing their anger about recent revelations about the United States spying on the EU. Germany’s justice minister has said that the United States’ expansive spying programs — the United States is alleged to have spied not only on the electronic communications of European citizens, but on ...
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