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Abstract:
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This paper investigates how the growing importance of the European Union has changed the internal dynamics of national political parties. It can be shown that European integration strengthens national party elites, and this is particularly the case when parties are in government. At the same time, MEPs operate fairly detached from their national parties even though the European Parliament has become an important actor in the legislative process of the European Union. Given that ever more national policies are decisively moulded by the EU, national political parties and parliaments have experienced an erosion of their control over policy formulation. These findings raise important questions about the limits of party government within the European Union. |