Consensus under pressure : the evolution of conflict in the EU legislative process

Abstract

The current crisis could lead us to expect an overall increase of conflicts in the EU legislative process and eventually a shift from a consensual system to a majoritarian system. This paper aims to assess the evolution of conflict in the EU legislative process in order to test this expectation. It constitutes a first attempt to deepen our understanding of conflict in the EU legislative process thanks to the database of the Observatory of European Institutions. We first define several intra-institutional and inter-institutional indicators of conflict. Then we assess the evolution of conflict for the period 1996-2014. The data show a limited increase of conflict in the legislative process. However, the legislative actors still comply with the norm of consensus; the EU political system has not shifted from a consensual system to a majoritarian system. In order to explain this trend and apparent lack of change, we suggest several hypotheses: The institutions' adaptation by stealth; the inter-institutional drive towards legislative productivity; institutional patriotism.