Subnational parliaments in EU policy control : explaining the variations across Europe

Abstract

The inclusion of subnational parliaments into the Early Warning System for subsidiarity control has generated transforming dynamics in the parliamentary modus operandi in EU decentralized systems. The empirical findings reveal considerable variations in the pace and scope of subnational parliamentary activity in ex-ante EU policy control challenging the existing theories of subnational mobilization. This article sheds light on these variations drawing from a comparative institutional analysis. It offers a theoretical framework which permits to account for the differences in the patterns of subnational parliamentary mobilization in the framework of the EWS, and beyond. This paper claims that the two most important variables behind the scope and effectiveness of regional parliamentary activity are the meso-level factors of the relationship between executive and legislature at subnational level and the position of regional executives in domestic governance arrangements.