Constraining the European Commission to please the public: responsiveness through delegation choices

Abstract

When and how does public opinion affect the delegation choices of legislators in the EU? We argue the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers limit the discretion of the Commission in response to EU-wide scepticism and politicisation of EU policies. Public opposition to EU policies, their contestation, and potential scrutiny motivate the EU legislators to minimise the discrepancies between the adopted and implemented policies. They do so to avoid bearing the costs of disregarding public preferences over the level of EU integration. Our analysis of legislation adopted between 2009-2019 relying on a novel dataset on public policy preferences and agency discretion supports this expectation. The results offer evidence of previously unexplored responsiveness of the EU institutions emerging in the policy implementation that might entail efficiency losses.