Committee Representation in the European Parliament

Journal article | Zeitschriftenartikel

The European Parliament (EP) possesses a highly specialized committee system, operating in a complex institutional and political environment, yet little empirical work has investigated how MEPs are assigned to EP committees and what consequences this process has for representation and policy-making. In this article I examine the growth of EP committees and committee membership since 1979, and address the question of whether these committees are representative of the EP as a whole. Using an original data set of committee membership, national and EP party affiliation, MEP characteristics, and MEP policy preferences derived from roll-call votes, I address three key questions: Does committee membership reflect the party group composition of the EP? Do committee members possess specialized expertise in their committees’ policy areas? And, finally, do committee members’ general or committee-specific policy preferences differ substantially from those of the overall Parliament? The results suggest very strongly that, although committee members do tend to possess policy-specific expertise, committees are, nonetheless, highly representative of the EP as a whole, in terms of both party and policy representation.

Object Details

• Extent: Seite(n): 5-29
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Postprint; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: European Union Politics, 7(1)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Politikwissenschaft ; Europapolitik ; politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): McElroy, Gail
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Vereinigtes Königreich
• (when): 2006

Further information

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116506060910
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-228941
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST