summary of the book given, Sintesi del corso di Politiche dell'Unione Europea

Scarica summary of the book given e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Politiche dell'Unione Europea solo su Docsity! EU POLITICS AND POLICIES IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD - B026821 VII. Political Parties and the European Parliament I. POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE EU: THREE LEVELS A political party is a group of like-minded people who organise in order to influence politics through winning political office. We will see that political parties play an important role in the European Parliament. The EP’s ‘political groups’ are instrumental in structuring the Parliament’s work, and they tend to vote as cohesive blocks. In that sense, the EP is increasingly operating like domestic parliaments. Outside of the EP, by contrast, European political parties have been slow to develop and have only assumed a limited number of tasks. They remain confederations of domestic parties and lack the key tasks of recruiting candidates for political office and organising the electorate. As a result, European political parties do not play the central and independent role in EU politics that domestic political parties play in domestic politics. In order to form a political group, three conditions have to be met: 1. The group needs to consist of at least 25 MEPs. 2. These MEPs need to come from at least one-quarter of all EU member states. Currently, this implies the members should come from at least seven different member states. 3. The group should be formed ‘according to political affinities’, as the EP’s Rules of Procedure state it. The latter condition is meant to prevent the creation of purely ‘technical groups’ of MEPs who work together to obtain the benefits of a political group without actually sharing a common political programme. Only if political groups are able to ‘bring out the vote’ do they have any real political significance. The term political party can be used for 3 different types of entities: 1. Domestic political parties play a role in the EU because they compete for seats in the European Parliament during the EP elections. They play a central role. They are the ones that send MEPs to the European Parliament. Hence, they also decide which political groups to form or join. In addition, domestic political parties are the founders and members of European political parties, and are firmly in the driving seat when it comes to deciding about the activities of those European parties. As a result, there is no close, direct link between European political parties and the political groups in the EP. Any link that exists between European political parties and political groups runs via domestic parties. Hence, domestic political parties play a pivotal role, organising and controlling both political groups and European political parties. 2. Political groups are coalitions between elected MEPs from different member states in the EP. They play important roles in the daily operation of the EP and structure the voting behaviour of MEPs. 3. European political parties are associations between domestic political parties and operate outside of the EP. II. POLITICAL GROUPS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 1. The development of political groups in the EP: - When the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was created in 1951, it included a Common Assembly (the predecessor of the European Parliament) alongside the High Authority (the precursor of the European Commission) and the Council of Ministers. The Common Assembly consisted of members from the national parliaments of the six member states who met to discuss issues related to the ECSC. However, the the members were not elected directly but combined the membership of the Assembly with their work as a national member of parliament. This only changed in 1979, when direct elections to the EP were introduced. from 1953 onwards, the national representatives in the Common Assembly chose to organise on the basis of political ideology rather than country of origin. In these early days, the Assembly had three political groups: Socialists, Christian Democrats and Liberals. By organising on the basis of political groups, the members of the Common Assembly emphasised that they primarily represented ideological cleavages in Europe and not different member states. - With the creation of the European Economic Community and Euratom in 1958, the tasks of the Common Assembly were extended to these communities, too, and it was officially renamed ‘European Parliamentary Assembly’. In 1962, the Parliamentary Assembly decided to call itself the ‘European Parliament’. - The Assembly was not a mere collection of national members of parliaments but as a European parliament in its own right. - From the 78 members of the ECSC’s Common Assembly, the European Parliament has grown to 736 MEPs. Most of these MEPs belong to one of the EP’s seven political groups - Other groups are affiliated to a European political party, which provides a platform for cooperation apart from the political groups in the EP. - Most European parties publish a party manifesto preceding the elections for the EP, which includes common positions on a range of issues related to the EU. 5. The Benefits of forming a political group: - Because there is a fair amount of variation among domestic parties it is difficult to form one single group in the EP. However, the MEPs find it important to be a part of a political group. Therefore, it is important to stay in a political group even if there is differences in opinion. One example of such case is: the Conservatives remained part of the EPP-ED political group between 1992 and 2009, despite considerable differences in opinion on European integration. In turn, the other parties in the EPP-ED political group made great efforts to keep the Conservatives on board during this period. - Reasons why it is important for political parties to cooperate in political groups: 1. Internal rules and procedures of the EP call for it. The EP’s rules on political groups encourage organisation along ideological lines. They almost force MEPs to form political groups across EU member states on the basis of a shared political programme. This, in turn, conditions many of the activities that take place within the Parliament. The Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament greatly encourage the formation of political groups by granting them a range of specific powers and privileges. For instance, political groups receive subsidies and have guaranteed seats on parliamentary committees. The Conference of Presidents, which organizes the work of the EP, consists of the President of the EP plus the presidents of all political groups. Being on the Conference of Presidents is important because it decides on such things as the agenda for EP meetings and the composition of parliamentary committees. Also, political groups can table amendments to proposals that are being discussed in the EP or propose to reject a proposal altogether. Outside of political groups, only parliamentary committees and groups of at least 40 MEPs can do so. Example: when a conciliation committee is formed to discuss a compromise with the Council of Ministers under the ordinary legislative procedure seats on the EP delegation to the committee are allocated according to the composition of the EP by political group. Hence, it is very unattractive for an individual MEP or domestic political party not to be a member of a political group. 2. Political advantages of being part of a political group, particularly if it is a large one. In order to get things done in the EP, it is necessary to work together with MEPs from other member states. By forming a political group, MEPs can present a unified front that controls a substantial number of votes, which increases the chances of obtaining decisions that are favourable to that group. Of course, working together in a political group also means that MEPs and domestic political parties represented in the EP need to compromise with their colleagues from other countries. This is made easier by the fact that the political groups are based on common ideological backgrounds, but there can be substantial differences within a political group. MEPs and domestic political parties therefore face an important trade-off. On the one hand, by joining a political group they may have to compromise on some of their objectives. On the other hand, being part of a political group increases their chances of achieving results. III. MEPS: BETWEEN POLITICAL GROUP AND MEMBER STATE 1. Do political groups vote as blocks? - For the political power of political groups to be actualised they need to vote as a block. If individual MEPs or domestic parties within a political group do not vote with the overall party line, the potential for forming one block in the EP is severely diminished. political groups in the EP tend to vote relatively cohesively. Cohesion is the extent to which MEPs of the same political group vote together. If all MEPs from a political group vote exactly the same, cohesion is high. If some MEPs in a political group vote for a proposal or amendment while other MEPs from that same group vote against, cohesion is low. The cohesion among MEPs from the same member state has decreased over time. Political groups have therefore become stronger as the EP has become more powerful. - In the vast majority of cases, MEPs vote with their political group and not with their compatriots in other political groups. - The formation of political groups on the basis of ideological affinities is meant to bring together parties that share certain basic ideas about the way the EU should be run. On some issues of EU politics, political parties from the left and the right within a certain country tend to agree, regardless of ideological background. If this occurs, MEPs can hardly abandon the position of their constituency and political party ‘back home’. - MEPs depend for their position on elections in their own country and they are selected as candidates by their domestic parties. If MEPs have political ambitions beyond the EP (such as becoming a cabinet minister) they also rely on their domestic party. In comparison, the political leadership of the political group in the EP has little to offer, although it can determine which MEPs obtain rapporteurships for legislative proposals or chairmanships of parliamentary committees. As a result, in case of conflict between the two it is not at all obvious that the official position of the political group will prevail over domestic imperatives. Political groups have become stronger because domestic parties have realised that in order to operate effectively in the EP, they need to vote together, even if the position of the political group does not always conform with their own ideal position. 2. Conflict dimensions in the EP: - The left/right divide is the best-known and most important so-called political cleavage in the domestic politics of most EU member states. A political cleavage is a stable conflict dimension between political groups that is rooted in social differences between groups in society. In addition to the left/right cleavage, there may also be other cleavages in a country, for instance between different regions in a country or between cities and the countryside. - Cleavages are based on social differences between groups of citizens that lead to different perspectives on the kind of policies that the government should pursue. Thus, ‘leftists’ think that the government should intervene in the economy in order to create greater equality while ‘rightists’ believe that the economy works best if the government does not interfere with it too much. - Cleavages structure politics because issues tend to be absorbed into exist- ing cleavages. So, if the left/right cleavage is the only important cleavage in a country, all issues will typically be interpreted in left/right terms. In this way, cleavages lead to ‘packages’ of political positions that go together, so that a leftist position on unemployment benefits goes together with a leftist position on immigration policies and a leftist position on environmental protection. - By structuring politics, cleavages also lend a degree of predictability and stability to political systems. If cleavages are strong, you can easily predict the position of a political party on one issue from its position on another issue. After all, since cleavages lead to the ‘packages’ of political positions described above, if politicians support one part of the package they are forced also to adhere to the other parts. - As in most European states, the left/right cleavage is the most important conflict dimension in the European Parliament. This means that in most of the cases support for and opposition to proposals depends on where a political group stands in terms of left and right. - Voting patterns in the EP reveal a second, though less import- ant, conflict dimension between groups that support further European integration and groups that are more reluctant to let the EU play a greater role vis-à-vis its member states. - Opposition to the EU is a particularly important part of the platforms of the ECR and the EFD. To some extent it also characterises the positions taken by the EUL/NGL. The three large cen- trist groups (EPP, S&D and ALDE) as well as the Greens have generally been supportive of further integration. This conflict dimension is peculiar to the EU, although it is similar to the opposition to central governments by regional political parties in some EU member states, such as Italy, Spain and the UK. common party manifesto. The main political groups therefore created European party federations to replace the weak platforms existing until then. In 1974, Socialist parties formed the Union (also: Confederation) of Socialist Parties of the European Community. Christian Democratic parties followed in 1976 with the European People’s Party. That same year, Liberal parties established the Federation of Liberal and Democratic Parties in the European Community. Each of these party federations drafted a party manifesto for the first direct elections to the EP, in 1979, but in the end election campaigns remained a matter for each of the domestic parties that were members of the federation. Recognition of European Political Parties: 1992. The third stage started with the mentioning of the European political parties in the Treaty of Maastricht. This treaty with the Single European Act of 1986 expanded the role of the European Parliament, which also implied a greater relevance for political parties. In response to these developments, several European party federations were strengthened or reincorporated. In 1993, the Confederation of Socialist Parties was renamed the Party of European Socialists (PES), while the Liberals continued under the name of European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). Moreover, the three traditional party federations were joined in 1993 by the European Federation of Green Parties, a party federation that succeeded the previously much looser cooperation between Green parties from several European countries. In 1994, the European Free Alliance was established as a European party federation, as a follow-up to earlier cooperation schemes between regionalist parties that had started in 1981. The party regulation: The fourth stage was set in motion in 2000 by the Treaty of Nice. which amended the provision on political parties included in the Treaty of Maastricht. Whereas the provision in the Treaty of Maastricht only expressed the sentiment that political parties had an important role to play without specifying any concrete rights or obligations, the amendment in the Treaty of Nice provided for the adoption of ‘regulations governing political parties at European level and in particular the rules regarding their financing’. On the basis of this provision, a Regulation on the financing of European political parties was adopted in 2003. This ‘Party Regulation’ has had important practical implications. Until the adoption of the Regulation, European party federations had been closely tied to their political groups in the European Parliament. They received most of their funding from the budgets of the political groups, and it was common for the staff of European party federations to be seconded from the EP secretariat. The Party Regulation provides for a clear separation between political groups in the EP and European political parties. Political parties now receive their funding directly from the EU, while they are required to hire their own staff. In response to the Party Regulation, and in particular the funding opportunities attached to it, the Greens and the EFA further formalised their party structures. In addition, several new European political parties were recognised in the years following the adoption of the Regulation. The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, which we met in the introduction to this chapter, was one of them. 2. The ten European Political Parties: - These ten European political parties represent most of the major political families that have traditionally been present in the EU member states. Exceptions are the agrarian parties and the extreme right, which are each represented in a number of member states but are not organised in an EU-level political party. - Six out of the seven political groups in the European Parliament now have a counterpart European political party (or, in the case of ALDE and the Greens/ EFA group, two counterpart parties). Only the EFD group has no link to a European political party, even though many of its views coincide with those of the European Union Democrats. - The parties in the ECPM are too small to have an official tie to an EP political group, but the only member party to have a seat in the EP (the Dutch Orthodox Protestant Christian Union) is a member of the ECR group. 3. The roles and functions of European Political Parties: European political parties and the EP elections: The most important role for European political parties with regard to EP elections is to coordinate the party positions of their members. Starting with the first direct elections to the EP in 1979, all major European political parties have presented party manifestos before each EP election. These party manifestos represent a consensus among the members of the European political party on the positions to be taken on important issues in the elections, but they only play a minor role in the actual election campaigns. Although European political parties are now more clearly separated from political groups in the European Parliament, their main activities remain linked to the EP. Elections to be recognised a European political party should be active in EP elections or declare that it aspires to be. However, the role of European political parties in relation to the EP and EP elections is limited. to the EP are contested by domestic parties in national elections for national shares of seats in the EP. This means that the selection of candidates is done by domestic parties, not by the European political party. Also, the election campaigns are organised and conducted by domestic parties, not the European political party. European political parties and the other EU institutions: Outside of EP elections, some European political parties have sought to become active in the other EU institutions. It would vastly increase the power of a political party if it could also coordinate participants in the European Council, the Council of Ministers or even the European Commission. In each of these institutions, participants have a party-political background and their parties are usually members of one of the European political parties. This is also true of the Committee of the Regions, whose members are organised in political groups. These opportunities for political coordination outside the EP are mainly relevant for the three largest party families in the EU (the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and the Liberals) because they tend to supply most ministers, heads of government and Commissioners. The EPP, the PES and the ELDR organise meetings between the leaders of their member parties (whether or not they are currently in government in their country) on the eve of European Council meetings in order to discuss the issues on the agenda. In this way, they try to come to a joint ‘Christian Democratic’, ‘Socialist’ or ‘Liberal’ voice in the European Council. Officially, the European Commission does not operate on a party-political basis. However, most Commissioners are former national politicians with close links to a political party. European political parties actively try to push for candidates from their political family to become President of the Commission, while each of the larger European political parties now identifies ‘its’ Commissioners on its website. These Commissioners may even join the party leaders’ meeting before a European Council meeting. 4. Comparing European and Domestic political parties: There are differences which surface when comparing roles and activities of European political parties with their counterparts in the EU MS. One way of looking at these differences in a systematic way is to compare the functions that political parties perform at the domestic and European levels. European political parties are best seen as cooperation frameworks between domestic parties. They focus on bringing together, facilitating and coordinating member state political elites rather than organising voters and citizens. Even at the elite level, some of the key functions of political parties (recruiting candidates for political office and forming governments) are carried out by domestic parties. As a result, European political Domestic political parties have 5 functions which they perform while European political parties perform a much more limited set of functions. parties are not (yet) fully fledged political parties but they have succeeded in establishing themselves as mediators between the various domestic parties at the EU level. Similarities: - Initially, both structure the choice offered to voters. Without political parties, voters would face a potentially limitless array of possible vote options, each representing a different combination of policy positions. Like domestic political parties, European political parties offer a much more limited number of options by organising domestic parties into broader European platforms. - Both domestic and European political parties aggregate interests by formulating more or less coherent ‘packages’ of policy positions, often based on a shared ideology. In the absence of parties, politics would revolve around a struggle between special-interest groups that are active on only one or a few related issues. Both domestic and European political parties bring together these separate interests by formulating overarching party programmes. Differences: - European political parties do not recruit or socialise candidates for political office. This is a key function of domestic political parties, and one that accounts for much of their importance in domestic politics. When it comes to the European level, however, recruitment and most of the socialisation of candidates remains the exclusive responsibility of the domestic parties that are members of the European party. - European political parties do not form the EU government. Although the political profile of European Commissioners has become more pronounced over the years, the Commission as a whole does not have a clear party-political profile and it is not formed by political parties or the parliamentary majority after the EP elections. - Because European political parties are confederations of domes- tic parties, they hardly form direct liaisons between the EU institutions and citizens or civil society. The core members of European political parties are domestic political parties. A number of European political parties also admit individual citizens as members alongside domestic parties. In order to establish links with citizens and civil society, some European parties have created organisations for specific