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Detecting Looming Vetoes: Getting the European Parliament's Consent in Trade Agreements
[journal article]
Abstract
Since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament wields the power of consent over international (trade) agreements, enabling it to threaten a veto. Due to the extensive financial and reputational costs associated with a veto, the European Commission (hereinafter Commission) was... view more
Since the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Parliament wields the power of consent over international (trade) agreements, enabling it to threaten a veto. Due to the extensive financial and reputational costs associated with a veto, the European Commission (hereinafter Commission) was expected to read these threats effectively. However, the Commission's responses to such threats have varied greatly. Building on a fine-grained causal mechanism derived from information processing theory and an extensive process-tracing analysis of seven free trade agreements post-Lisbon, we explain why the Commission has responded differently to looming vetoes. Our analysis reveals that the variation in Commission responses derives from imperfections in its information-processing system, the 'early-warning system', which had to be adapted to the new institutional equilibrium post-Lisbon. Because of this adaption process, factors exogenous to the parliamentary context ('externalities') as well as internal uncertainties ('internalities') add constant unpredictability to the Commission's reading of the European Parliament.... view less
Keywords
EU; European Commission; European Parliament; trade policy; economic agreement; international agreement; European Policy
Classification
European Politics
Free Keywords
EU trade policy; European Commission; European Parliament; information processing theory; trade agreements; veto
Document language
English
Publication Year
2021
Page/Pages
p. 74-84
Journal
Politics and Governance, 9 (2021) 3
Issue topic
Resilient Institutions: The Impact of Rule Change on Policy Outputs in European Union Decision-Making Processes
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed