Committee governance in the European Union

Committees are a pervasive presence in the EU policy process yet little is known about the way in which they operate. This volume, newly available in paperback, brings together an international group of experts from a number of disciplinary backgrounds to provide a comprehensive account of the role played by committees in the European Union. The book looks at committees in the context of inter-institutional relations, a focus based on the recognition that the relationships between Commission, Council, Parliament and national authorities – rather than the institutions themselves – are crucial to the understanding of European policy-making. Much of that interaction is regularised in various kinds of committees and the book provides an in-depth analysis of the nature and the effects of 'committee governance' in the EU system. A number of case studies (monetary, policy, trade, environment, spatial planning and foreign policy) examine the role of committees in specific areas. These are framed by broader perspectives which provide theoretical, statistical and normative analyses of the phenomenon of committee governance.

1. Theoretical perspectives on administrative interaction in the European Union - Andreas Maurer, Jurgen Mittag and Wolfgang Wessels 2. A cross-sectoral view of comitology: incidence, issues and implications - Rhys Dorgan 3. Parliamentary oversight of executive power: what role for the European parliament in comitology - Simon Hix 4. Postcards from the edge of integration? The role of committees in EU environmental policy-making - Brendan Flynn 5. In the maelstrom of change: the Article 113 Committee in the governance of external economic policy - Anna Murphy 6. The Committee on Spatial Development: formulating a spatial perspective in an institutional vacuum - Andreas Faludi, Wil Zonneveld and Bas Waterhout 7. Governing by committee - the case of monetary policy - Amy Verdun 8. Committees in common: committee governance and CFSP - Ben Tonra 9. Government by committee - three principles of evaluation - Albert Weale Index