Study for the European Parliament: “Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro Zone Summits”

The study on the Democratic Control in the Member States of the European Council and the Euro Zone Summits was written by a group of researchers from TEPSA and Notre Europe following the request from the Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament.

The European Council is increasingly central to the governance of the European Union. Even if national parliaments have originally focused their involvement in EU affairs on the ordinary legislative process, most of the chambers have started to develop specific activities, before or after European summits. From ex-ante influence to ex-post accountability, seven different models of control have been identified. Beyond their differences rooted in national democratic systems, they call for twelve recommendations listed in this report.

Authors of the Study: Wolfgang Wessels (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Olivier Rozenberg (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute), Mirte van den Berge (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Claudia Hefftler (Trans European Policy Studies Association), Valentin Kreilinger (Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute) and Laura Ventura (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and many TEPSA and OPAL network experts provided an analysis of the democratic control in each Member State.

The full study can be accessed here.