Power or Luck? The Limitations of the European Commission's Agenda Setting Power and Autonomous Policy Influence

Buket Oztas and Amie Kreppel

Journal of Common Market Studies, 2022, vol. 60, issue 2, 408-426

Abstract: Building on the existing research on the European Commission's agenda‐setting powers, this study examines the relationship between the policy priorities of the Commission and those of the other key policy actors in the European Union to determine the impact of other EU institutional actor preferences on the success of Commission priority initiatives. By using new and existing datasets to compare the European Commission's Work Programmes with European Council Summit Conclusions, the European Parliament's own initiative reports and Council Presidency Work Programmes, we are able to analyse the effect of policy priority congruence on the Commission's success and measure the autonomous policy influence of the Commission more accurately. Our results demonstrate that the Commission's priority initiatives are significantly more likely to result in legislative outcomes when they address policy topics already highlighted (whether fortuitously or as a result of Commission efforts) by the other key EU institutions. They also suggest that interpretations of the EU political system that ascribe the role of political executive to the Commission misconstrue its role.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:60:y:2022:i:2:p:408-426

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