Participation in EU Decision Making - Implications on the National Level

This book explores the European Union decision-making processes from the perspective of its Member States. These processes pose serious challenges for their national governments and parliaments, and require significant institutional and operational adaptation. The general practices of Member States are explored in the light of these challenges, and specific practical experiences in both the domestic and Brussels arena are examined through a detailed case-study on Hungary, a relatively new Member State. • Flow-charts of processes and actors involved therein allow reader to see complicated processes, the roles of the actors involved and their interactions • Includes questionnaires that were processed for the research, allowing reader to identify the focus of investigation conducted from practitioners • Overview of Member State practices and detailed analysis of Hungary's experiences give the reader a broad scope of information

1. Introduction; 2. National constitutions and European law/European integration; 3. Setting the scene: the institutional triangle – the Council, the Commission, and the European Parliament; 4. Interinstitutional relations – institutional balance; 5. Coordination of EU policies on national level; 6. The role of national parliaments in the EU – the Hungarian parliament controlling the government in EU decision-making procedures; 7. The Hungarian Permanent Representation – representing national position in Brussels; 8. Implementation of EC legislation in Hungary; 9. Conclusions.