The Europeanisation of the legislative agenda at State and regional level (1986-2007)

Authors

  • Anna M.ª Palau

Keywords:

Europeanization, legislative agenda, Comunidades Autónomas, Government-Parliament relations

Abstract

This article measures the europeanization of the legislative agenda in Spain over time, across levels of government and in different policy areas. The results illustrate that since Spain’s entry into the EEC in 1986 to 2007, the percentage of europeanized legislation has progressively increased, that those issues related to the single market and the environment are the most europeanized, and that the legislative agenda of the Comunidades Autónomas —Andalusia, Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque Country— is weakly europeanized compared to the central government agenda. The article also analyzes the impact of europeanization on Government-Parliament relations. To do that we consider to what extent the Government uses secondary legislation to regulate european affairs, and to what extent the control activity of the parliamentary groups over the executive on european issues has increased over time. The results show that parliamentary control has not increased similarly to the europeanization of the agenda, and that, in general, the integration process has strengthened the predominance of the Government in front of the Parliament in the political process.

Issue

Section

ARTICLES