Parliaments in EU Economic Governance: Powers, Potential and Practice

This book considers national parliaments’ and the European Parliament’s role in European Union (EU) economic governance. It examines the recent strengthening of parliamentary involvement, limitations to improvements, and where and how democratic deficits still exist. It also provides the basis for some reflections concerning possible future evolutions and improvements to EU economic governance.

The EU’s economic governance framework has been significantly strengthened as a response to the 2008 economic and financial crisis, and the establishment of a new Banking Union in 2013. It is thus key to determine whether these additional transfers of powers to the EU level have been accompanied by an equivalent empowerment of the national and European legislatures, allowing them to ensure adequate democratic legitimation. The chapters comprehensively re-examine the democratic (throughput) legitimacy of, and within, the EU’s economic governance by focusing on national parliaments, on the European Parliament, and on mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

Diane Fromage is Assistant Professor of European Law at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on parliaments in the European Union and on the European Banking Union. She is also interested in Independent Fiscal Institutions.

Ton van den Brink is Associate Professor of European Law at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His research interests lie in the field of European constitutional law, the national dimension of European integration, and the legal aspects of EU economic governance.