Institute of Political Science | Leiden University’s Post

The POLITICO Europe Policy and Data team published its latest report. Chrystel Papi, Dr. Ivo Bantel and Izabela Kantor analysed the 'unfinished business' from files pending from the 9th term. Are you a Pro Subscriber? Access the report here: https://lnkd.in/eyAVsmef 🕰️Key Take-Aways: With the 9th legislative term concluded in July 2024, nearly 400 legislative files were finalized, though 8 were withdrawn by the European Commission, and 150 remain in progress. Key areas like environment, economy, and civil liberties still await final decisions, as these files reach the last stages of the legislative process. 📊 Shifting Priorities in Committees With the confirmation of a more right-leaning European Parliament, we can expect heightened debates in committees like ENVI, ECON, and LIBE over pivotal economic reform and migration issues. This political shift intensifies discussions, especially in the environmental and economic spheres, signalling potential changes to unfinished files. 🔎 What Lies Ahead The future of the remaining files depends on the new Commission’s priorities and Parliament’s directions. Files left unaddressed by the Council can be modified or withdrawn by the Commission, and unresolved matters not yet at first reading may be resumed if requested. The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents will decide the ultimate path for these legislative initiatives. #Policy #Analysis #POLITICO

💡 New #cepSeries on the #MissionLetter to the new #Commissioners! Between the 4th and 12th of November, the candidates for the upcoming European Commission 2024-2029 will be closely scrutinised by the members of the European Parliament. During these #confirmation #hearings, the #Commissioners-designate will have to answers questions on #EU initiatives outlined by the #Commission President Ursula von the Leyen in her Political Guidelines and #MissionLetters to the new #Commissioners. In the run-up of the #hearings, the Centrum für Europäische Politik issued today a series of six #cepInputs on the candidates, portfolios and important EU initiatives which will shape the future EU policies in the next mandate. If you are interested in those #cepInputs you may find them here: https://lnkd.in/edc759zv I participated in writing two of the six #cepinputs: 📣 Together with my colleagues Anselm Küsters, Matthias Kullas and Anja Hoffmann from the Centrum für Europäische Politik I have taken a closer look at the mission letters dealing with the EU’s digital policy ambitions in the years to come. You may find this #cepInput here: https://lnkd.in/eEHtytJW 📣 In another #cepInput I considered more closely the #EU’s plans outlined in the #missionletters in the #financialmarkets sphere. It touches upon topics like the idea of creating a #savingsandinvestmentsunion, the review of the EU’s #securitisation framework, the way forward in #sustainablefinance, and the plans to make targeted changes to the EU’s #supervisoryframework with regard to financial markets actors. The #cepInput on this topic can be found here: https://lnkd.in/ebmzYwUc

New article by Ana E. Juncos and institute member Karolina Pomorska: 'Populists in the Shadow of Unanimity: Contestation of EU Foreign and Security Policy'. The arrival of populist political parties to power in several member states and the increasing politicisation of EU foreign policy has made intra-European consensus more difficult to reach in the past decade. This article examines the impact of populist contestation on EU foreign policy negotiations in the Council, a policy area governed by unanimity. This decision-making mode makes the policy especially vulnerable to the impact of contestation and, at the same time, gives power to those willing to use their veto. Drawing on the idea of unpopulist politics, this study shows how Hungary and, to a lesser degree, Poland have contested the established formal and informal norms (such as consensus-building or reflex coordination) through discursive and behavioural non-compliance. The “domestication” of EU foreign policy has meant that, in general, populists show less willingness to compromise and resort to non-decisions to demonstrate the EU’s weakness. However, there are exceptions, and it is possible to see variations in populist strategies when faced with similar challenges, as exemplified by the EU’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. By testing the scope conditions under which unpolitics might be activated, we show that the same crisis situation did not lead to a uniform response amongst populist governments. This is because both the nature of the crisis and perceptions of risk/gain were understood differently (and actively constructed as such) by populists in power. This finding emphasises the social, relational, and multi-level nature of unpolitics as a phenomenon. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eReEz5k2

As members of the ITRE research committee plan their political futures, we have compiled an overview of the movers and shakers in EU research and innovation policy https://lnkd.in/dRrrr3tk

As Brussels prepares for a new class of MEPs, the R&I community is looking to see who will return to shape the tenth EU Framework Programme, #FP10 and the next five years of EU policymaking in the field. We have compiled an overview➡️ https://shorturl.at/loptF

🗳️ Democracy in the EU: Progress or Backsliding? As the new EU Commission will start its 5-year term on 1 December, concerns are growing about the future of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) and participatory democracy. Our analysis dives into the fragmented democracy portfolio and the Commission’s controversial handling of key ECIs like “End the Cage Age.” The stakes have never been higher. Read our full article ⬇️ #EuropeanCitizensInitiative #EUCommission #ParticipatoryDemocracy #EUDemocracy #PolicyReform #CitizenEngagement #ECIReforms

How the EU engages with lobbyists: a glimpse into the complexity of the transparency register The European Union places a high priority on maintaining an open and transparent relationship with lobbyists and interest representatives. This interaction is not only a legitimate part of the decision-making process but essential to ensure that EU policies reflect the diverse needs of society. 🇪🇺 ✨   Since 2021, the European Parliament, Commission, and Council have operated under a shared Transparency Register. This register tracks the entities trying to influence EU law-making and policy decisions. It's a critical tool that bolsters transparency and helps maintain public trust. With nearly 12,500 registered entities, ranging from in-house lobbyists and trade associations to non-governmental organizations, the EU continues to strive for greater transparency. Especially in light of events like the 2022 ‘Qatargate’ scandal, the European Parliament has called for even stricter rules to ensure integrity and prevent corruption.   🔍 For anyone engaging with or interested in EU policies, understanding these mechanisms is crucial. Whether you’re a policy professional, lobbyist, or simply a curious citizen, the Transparency Register provides valuable insights into who is influencing EU decisions. But navigating the Transparency Register can be tiring. SAVOIRR simplifies this with a platform that provides access to pre-filtered and decluttered data from official government sources like the transparency register, in real-time. Manage millions of documents and get relevant information tailored to your needs, enabling you to focus more on strategic actions rather than data management.   📌 Learn More: EU Transparency Register (https://lnkd.in/dgSC6bV6) #EUGovernance #Transparency #Lobbying #PublicPolicy #EuropeanUnion

Yesterday, I had the honor to discuss the challenges that populist governments pose to the EU and possible countermeasures with Theresa Gessler, Marta Lorimer, Natasha Wunsch and Manuel Müller at #IEPCon2024 by the Institut für Europäische Politik e.V.My main talking points:  - Populist governments have a major influence on EU governance though they cannot block QMV-decisions in the Council. They shape how political elites think and talk about EU policies by setting narratives both in public debates and EU Council committees. Furthermore, they intentionally undermine consensus-building processes in the EU by unpolitics. For more insights on this concept consider the recent SI of Politics and Governace edited by Natascha Zaun and  Ariadna Ripoll Servent.  - But the mainstream governments and the EU Commission are not helpless. In fact, facing concrete attempts of unpolitics recently, they showed relatively resilient. Promising measures to counter the disruptive actions  of populist governments include: - Don't copy the populist governments (credits to Marta Lorimer). When mainstream governments set their own narratives and frames, they can regain agency and mobilise public support for EU policies. - Find ways to realize policies without populist governments. When the EU Commission threatened Poland and Hungary to realize NGEU through the enhanced cooperation procedure, they had to accept a compromise. At the same time, introducing QMV is hardly an effective solution. Approved policies are useless if they are not implemented and QMV can undermine implementation.  - Connect policies with financial incentives. This is a good measure to get populist governments to approve and implement policies as suddenly they have something to lose.  Stay tuned for more research on EUs resilience against populist governments and the effectiveness of different countermeasures in the future! 

Are you working on active subsidiarity and the EU better regulation agenda from a local and regional perspective?    If so, we invite you to register and share your expertise on the hybrid stakeholder consultation on Monday, 12 February 2024, from 13:30 to 15:00 for the preparation of the CoR opinion on 'Active subsidiarity: a fundamental principle in the EU better regulation agenda' lead by rapporteur Dr Mark Speich (DE/EPP), Secretary of State for Federal, European and International Affairs and Media, North Rhine-Westphalia.    The EU legislative process needs to hear from those closest to citizens to respond to their demands. This is where the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) comes in. As a political assembly of elected local and regional authorities and an EU advisory body, the CoR provide advice to the main EU institutions on new EU laws that could impact regions and cities (around 70% of all EU legislation). The opinion-making process is crucial, and the CoR relies on stakeholder consultations to make informed decisions. They enable CoR rapporteurs to gain insight into the current debates and positions surrounding a policy issue. This empowers them to provide the best advice possible through their opinions to other institutions. #ActiveSubsidiarity #EUBetteRregulationAgenda

Active listening in the construction of Europe: How citizens can help shape EU laws and policies Last June, European citizens were called to use their vote to elect their representatives to the #European Parliament. This exercise of #democracy is not the only way EU citizens can make their voice heard and influence the creation of EU laws. There are other tools used to give the general public the opportunity to co-create EU policies every day, not just every five years. The European Union is committed to a model of #governance that stands out for the growing importance it gives to #actively listening to citizens in the #decision-making process. An active listening based not only on listening, but truly understanding the perspectives, concerns and needs of society, prioritizing and taking into account the fundamental values that must govern our activity: #Openness, #Integrity, #Equity and #Co-responsibility. If you want the EU to take action on a particular issue, you can launch a citizens' initiative to ask the European Commission to propose new EU legislation on that issue. You can also submit a #petition to ask the European #Parliament to examine an issue that affects you or to find out how an EU law is being implemented. The Citizens' Participation #Platform is a space dedicated to participation and debate on EU policies that affect us. People can participate by posting contributions and/or commenting on or supporting the contributions of others. There are also the European Citizens' #Panels as #innovative experiences in #deliberative democracy, which bring together randomly selected citizens from the 27 Member States to discuss, at European level, the main future proposals that affect us. Based on the discussions, participants make recommendations for the European Commission to take into account when defining policies and initiatives. Citizens can (in an exercise of #coresponsibility) communicate to the European institutions what they think and share their opinions on the Commission's initiatives. In this way, it contributes to improving the preparatory work on EU legislation at the different stages of the process of designing and implementing public policies. Let us contribute to consolidating a model of #anticipatory and #open #governance, where we are able to respond to the needs of our societies. Because you build Europe and Europe can only be with you. #Europe #EuropeanUnion #OpenGovernment #Participation #Co-responsibility #DeliberativeDemocracy