PROGRAMME ON EUROPEAN
POLICY-MAKING Department of Political Science
University of Helsinki

Part A: Parliamentarianism in the European Union. The role of the popularly elected institutions in European Union decision-making.

The research question. The aim of research component IIA is to examine the democratic process in European Union decision-making structures. The main emphasis will then be on how the popularly elected institutions can influence European Union decision-making. The research component is composed of four research objects:

a) the role of the national parliaments, specifically the Finnish Eduskunta (Parliament), in European Union decision-making;

b) the europeanisation of Finnish political parties;

c) the members of the European Parliament, their activities and channels of influence; and

d) the formulation of the political agenda in the European Parliament.

The role and the influence of national parliaments, specifically the Finnish Eduskunta, in the European Union decision-making. The aim is to see how European Union membership has affected the institutional status and everyday work of the Finnish Eduskunta. The primary research question is how the Eduskunta can influence the positions taken by the Finnish authorities in the European Union decision-making processes. The subject has been studied relatively little in Finland with just a couple of exceptions. However, one fairly comprehensive study on the subject is already under the way, and will be published in February 1998 by the project, in collaboration with the Finnish Eduskunta (Parliament). The research effort on the subject continues and is accorded major significance, bearing in mind the poor status of the directly elected institutions in the European Union.

The Finnish political parties and the European Union. Europeanisation of the Finnish political parties can be examined from two points of view: one can either analyse party platforms and electoral programmes or examine the connections and contacts created by the parties with their European counterparts. The europeanisation of political parties has so far been mainly examined from the point of view of party ideological positions on European unification. The networks created by national parties with European-level political actors have, however, been examined relatively little.

The aim of the research is to examine the euro-contacts of Finnish political parties and the influence of European policy-making on the Finnish parties' activities, the primary interest being those parties already operating within European organisations.

pThe Members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg: their activities and the channels of influence. The European Parliament diverges considerably from the national parliaments of the member states. The greatest distinction is the lack of government and opposition groupings. On the other hand, the European Parliament has far more power over its agenda than do the national parliaments. The individual members of the European Parliament furthermore have better means of influence than the members of national parliaments.

The research will cover the fourth period of office (1994-1999) of the directly elected European Parliament and will be carried out by examining the documents of the Parliament that can be obtained quite easily and by interviewing a number of Members of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg.

The formulation of the political agenda in the European Parliament. The European Parliament assembles for 4-5-day-long monthly plenary sessions in Strasbourg. Handling the proposals drawn up by the European Commission takes a considerable amount of the Parliament's time. The Parliament, however, also has time reserved for both discussion of current issues and for handling the resolutions arisinf from the Parliament's own initiatives. These later tasks make up an important part of the Parliament's work. The European parliament has over the decades sought and also succeeded in influencing the development of our continent.

Part B: Revision of the European Union administration and the new role of the European Commission .

The background to the research. The research project will be based on previous research concerning reform of the European Union administration, the challenges to the Finnish presidency and the preparation of European Union policies at national level. The first of part of the research was conducted in 1997.

The approach of the research is pragmatic. The greatest problems from the point of view of the European Union functioning, efficiency and legitimacy will be evaluated first. Some proposals for reform of the European Union administration will then be made. The research then aims to examine the expectations of the member states concerning administrative reform and their political will to promote these reforms regarded as important both by the Commission and Finland. The research can thus be seen as supporting the preparations for the Finnish presidency in 1999.

Problems associated with the European Union administration. There are three widely recognised and particularly problematic matters in the European Union administration needing revision. First, the administration of the European Commission is far too centralised and hierarchical. Secondly, the segmental and hierarchical nature of the Commission administration worsens the quality of preparatory work, results in waste of resources and decreases communication both between and within the directorates. At the same time, as the preparation of decisions becomes more complicated, cross-sectional management of issues is needed. Thirdly the personnel resources of the directorates and their branches are not always in proper relation to the tasks assigned to them, so that the Commission's own division of labour and allocation of the personnel resources also has to be re-evaluated.

The principles and the means of reform. Decentralisation, raised as the primary means of European Union administrative reform, is not merely a technical or organisational exercise but presupposes a wholesale change in the administrative culture. The Commission has begun a reform of the budgetary and personnel administration. The reform of the budgetary administration, begun in January 1995, aims first at rationalisation of the Commission's own budgetary administration, secondly at decentralisation of the budgetary decisions, accommodating the budgetary and personnel decisions and improving the evaluation of the various programmes, and thirdly, at tightening control of expenditure of European Union resources in the member states. The reorganisation of the personnel administration is presently being initiated.

The focus and the limits of the research. During its first phase, in 1997, the research has focused on reform of the budgetary and personnel administration in the European Commission. The research aims to answer not only the question of "what needs to be done" but also "how it is to be done". The reports by the Commission and the member states and the earlier research on the subject will form the primary research material. The emphasis will, however, be on the expert interviews to be conducted in the Commission, the Council, the capitals of selected member states and in certain research institutions. During phase two, starting in early 1998, primary attention will be directed to the reform programme and the processes whereby the various actors seek to influence its formation. In the next phase the research will evaluate the objects and means of the reform programme, locate the support for and opposition to the reform, and evaluate the effects of the reform from the point of view of the European decision-making system.

Implementation of the research. The research will be conducted in stages following the progress and the schedule of the European Union administration reform. In 1998 the documents concerning the reform programme will be analysed and the main architects of the reform in the Commission will be interviewed. The standpoints of the member states concerning the primary questions of the reform will also be clarified. In 1999, during the Finnish presidency, some of the Finnish decision-makers and experts on European Union issues will be interviewed and the formation of the agenda of the Finnish presidency analysed, particularly from the point of view of the administrative reform.