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The Rationale behind Committee Assignment in the European Parliament

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  • Nikoleta Yordanova

    (European University Institute, Florence, Italy, Nikoleta.Yordanova@eui.eu)

Abstract

Although most of the legislative tasks of the European Parliament (EP) are performed in its committees, it is controversial how representative they are of the overall plenary. Distributive, informational and partisan theories suggest respectively that the committee assignments system is designed to (1) serve special interests outside the EP, (2) bring informational benefits to the plenary or (3) promote partisan interests. These propositions are examined via a representative sample of committees using an original data set of MEPs' profiles in the 6th European Parliament. The results show that, whereas information-driven committees attract mainly MEPs with relevant expertise, homogeneous special interests influence assignments to interest-driven and mixed committees, turning them into preference outlying committees. However, partisan considerations do not appear to influence individual assignments strategically.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikoleta Yordanova, 2009. "The Rationale behind Committee Assignment in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 10(2), pages 253-280, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:10:y:2009:i:2:p:253-280
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116509103377
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. David Marshall, 2015. "Explaining Interest Group Interactions with Party Group Members in the European Parliament: Dominant Party Groups and Coalition Formation," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 311-329, March.

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