We analyse the politics surrounding the proposal to create a super-commissioner with exclusive powers to veto national budgets in the European Union (EU). According to liberal institutionalism and liberal inter-governmentalism, there should be no need for a super-commissioner to enforce inter-governmental agreements, because the European Commission (the Commission) is already doing this. So, is the super-commissioner superfluous, or is the theory wrong? To answer this question, we build an analytic narrative aimed at clarifying who wanted what and why, and at explaining how a relatively small coalition of northern creditor-nation governments almost succeeded in amending the EU’s core constitutional principle of executive-level collegiality by threatening to select an altogether different institution. Our findings bear significance not only for current policy debates, but also for our appreciation of the institutional equilibria that sustain the EU, and on the theory of institutional change in international organizations.

Institutional change and continuity in the European Union: The super-commissioner saga / Karagiannis, Yannis; Guidi, Mattia. - In: ACTA POLITICA. - ISSN 0001-6810. - 49:2(2013), pp. 174-195. [10.1057/ap.2013.21]

Institutional change and continuity in the European Union: The super-commissioner saga

GUIDI, MATTIA
2013

Abstract

We analyse the politics surrounding the proposal to create a super-commissioner with exclusive powers to veto national budgets in the European Union (EU). According to liberal institutionalism and liberal inter-governmentalism, there should be no need for a super-commissioner to enforce inter-governmental agreements, because the European Commission (the Commission) is already doing this. So, is the super-commissioner superfluous, or is the theory wrong? To answer this question, we build an analytic narrative aimed at clarifying who wanted what and why, and at explaining how a relatively small coalition of northern creditor-nation governments almost succeeded in amending the EU’s core constitutional principle of executive-level collegiality by threatening to select an altogether different institution. Our findings bear significance not only for current policy debates, but also for our appreciation of the institutional equilibria that sustain the EU, and on the theory of institutional change in international organizations.
2013
European Union; commission; collegiality; financial crisis; super-commissioner
Institutional change and continuity in the European Union: The super-commissioner saga / Karagiannis, Yannis; Guidi, Mattia. - In: ACTA POLITICA. - ISSN 0001-6810. - 49:2(2013), pp. 174-195. [10.1057/ap.2013.21]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
karagiannis-guidi 2014.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Tipologia: Versione dell'editore
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati
Dimensione 219.45 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
219.45 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11385/147212
Citazioni
  • Scopus 14
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 7
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact