In recent years there has been a considerable effort in some transnational organizations and institutions to confront a crisis of legitimacy by promising more accountability and openness. This volume takes as its central focus the role of accountability in democratic governance, and attempts to position a broad understanding of the notion of accountability within the overall context of the evolving political system of governance in Europe and in particular of the European Union. Bringing together new work by some of the leading scholars in the field, this volume considers the relationship between accountability and a wide range of other themes in European governance such as problems of representation, transparency, bureaucracy, and transnational relations. The volume also deals with the role of accountability in multi-level governance, and its relationship to both direct democracy and civil society. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

In recent years there has been a considerable effort in some transnational organizations and institutions to confront a crisis of legitimacy by promising more accountability and openness. This volume takes as its central focus the role of accountability in democratic governance, and attempts to position a broad understanding of the notion of accountability within the overall context of the evolving political system of governance in Europe and in particular of the European Union. Bringing together new work by some of the leading scholars in the field, this volume considers the relationship between accountability and a wide range of other themes in European governance such as problems of representation, transparency, bureaucracy, and transnational relations. The volume also deals with the role of accountability in multi-level governance, and its relationship to both direct democracy and civil society. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

With a foreword by Atzo Nicolai, Minister for European Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands On 29 October 2004, the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was signed by the leaders of the 25 Member States of the European Union. This event marked the end of the discussion rounds to amend the treaties on which the European Union is founded. Yet, the debate on the Constitution was far from over when on 29 May and 1 June 2005 the French and the Dutch voters rejected the Treaty. Politicians and lawyers are now confronted with the question of how to proceed and how to go forward. In October 2004, the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague, The Netherlands, organized the 34th Session of its Asser Institute Colloquium on European Law, which was entitled 'The EU Constitution: The best way forward?'. During the Conference some 50 experts from the 25 Member States, from candidate, potential candidate and neighbouring countries, as well as from the US and Russia focused on key topics like: the process and impact of EU constitution-making, the democratic life of the EU, improving the efficiency and quality of legislation in the EU, the expansion of executive, judicial and legislative powers, and the access to justice. In anticipation of the developments after the signing of the Treaty, three eminent speakers - Prof. Joseph Weiler (New York University), Professor Bruno de Witte (European Institute in Florence) and Professor Jo Shaw (University of Manchester), elaborated on many answers in case of a ratification crisis. This book contains the proceedings of the three-day Conference and includes, next to the papers of the speakers and commentators, reports of the discussions on each topic and the texts of two keynote speeches. A keyword Index and a List of Articles (of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community) greatly enhance the accessibility of the rich materials. The book will be of great help and interest to political leaders, members of parliament, international lawyers and European citizens in formulating answers to the questions that have risen after the rejection of the Treaty by the French and Dutch voters and give powerful impulses to the continuing debate and efforts to arrive at a generally accepted Constitution for Europe. Deirdre Curtin is Professor of European and International Governance at Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Alfred E. Kellermann is Senior Legal and Policy Advisor and Visiting Professor in the law of the EU at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and Steven Blockmans is a Senior Researcher in the law of the EU at the T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.

The executive branch of government in Europe is being gradually transformed in several significant respects. First, executive power has been continuously strengthened at the EU level in the form of the European Commission, EU-level agencies and diplomatic and military staff in the Union Council secretariat. Second, EU executive bodies relate directly to (regulatory) authorities at the national level in charge of applying (and partly preparing) EU laws and programmes, partly circumventing ministerial departments. Thus, parts of national administrations become parts of an integrated and multi-level Union administration as well as parts of national executives. Such a system with multiple political masters raises delicate questions about political steering and accountability. This book focuses on this fascinating development both from a political science and a legal perspective, encompassing the consolidation of the supranational executive as well as its relationships with its 'partners' at the national level. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Data at the Boundaries of European Law represents an original and engaged piece of scholarship in an important and fast developing field of policy and research. Beyond, and including, the most recent major new pieces of EU legislation-the Data Governance Act, together with the Data Act and the AI Act still going through the legislative process-this book draws attention to the substance of a number of core themes of the relationship between law and the digital world that are still somewhat hidden. These themes include the mimetic regulatory trajectories in and around the GDPR, transparency, ownership, and accountability, as well as the translation of all of these into core areas of public law such as criminal law, migration law, and intellectual property law. As a result, this book occupies a distinctive place in the debate on digital law that goes beyond the various silos of knowledge of particular legal disciplines. The issues addressed in this book are of interest to a global readership. They grapple with a number of the difficult themes of our times as applied to private and public actors and their (future) regulation in a manner that is relevant not just in Europe but worldwide.

As a medium for communication between the EU and the USA, law has the ability to provide unique insights into the state of contemporary transatlantic relations. A Transatlantic Community of Law offers legal perspectives on the emerging institutional characteristics of transatlantic relations and contemporary rule-making in both trade and security. Making use of rule of law analysis which has hitherto not been conducted in transatlantic relations scholarship, it draws together EU law, governance and rule-making scholarship and offers new ways of thinking about the use of law and contemporary transatlantic institutions.

The Real World of EU Accountability reports the findings of a major empirical study into patterns and practices of accountability in European governance. The product of a 4-year, path-breaking project, this book assesses to what extent and how the people that populate the key arenas where European public policy is made or implemented are held accountable. Using a systematic analytical framework, it examines not just the formal accountability arrangements but also documents and compares how these operate in practice. In doing so, it provides a unique, empirically grounded contribution to the pivotal but often remarkably fact-free debate about democracy and accountability in European governance.
With four empirical chapters covering the Commission and its agencies, the European Council, and Comitology committees, it shows that a web of formal accountability arrangements has been woven around most of them, but that the extent to which the relevant accountability forums actually use the oversight possibilities offered to them varies markedly: some forums lack the institutional resources, others the willingness. But in those cases where both are on the increase, as in the European Parliament's efforts vis a vis the European Commission, fundamentally healthy accountability relationships are developing. Although ex-post accountability is only part of the larger equation determining the democratic quality of European governance, this study suggests that at least in this area, the EU is slowly but surely reducing its 'democratic deficit'.

The picture of Brussels-based bureaucrats exercising wide-ranging, arbitrary executive powers with no accountability is one of the favorite images conjured by Eurosceptics across the political spectrum. What truth is there in the image? This book aims to bring the EU's executive powers out of the shadows by mapping the evolution and current form of the EU's various executive actors, their powers, and the mechanisms for holding them accountable. In doing so it provides a rich understanding of the way in which the EU's institutional and legal framework fits within national constitutional presumptions about how power should be controlled and accountability achieved.
Covering both the political executive and the administrative executive at the EU institutional level, the book analyzes their relationship with national executive power, and traces the historical evolution of executive order in Europe from the Peace of Westphalia through classic inter-governmental organizations to the allegedly unique EU framework. The book's analysis covers both the formal legal structure of the Union and the evolution of the EU's living institutions in practice. The picture presented is of a fragmented, cluttered and complex European executive space, resistant to radical constitutional reform and in need of a more nuanced understanding of the different forms of executive power required by different political aims and modes of decision-making.

The picture of Brussels-based bureaucrats exercising wide-ranging, arbitrary executive powers with no accountability is one of the favorite images conjured by Eurosceptics across the political spectrum. What truth is there in the image? This book aims to bring the EU's executive powers out of the shadows by mapping the evolution and current form of the EU's various executive actors, their powers, and the mechanisms for holding them accountable. In doing so it provides a rich understanding of the way in which the EU's institutional and legal framework fits within national constitutional presumptions about how power should be controlled and accountability achieved.
Covering both the political executive and the administrative executive at the EU institutional level, the book analyzes their relationship with national executive power, and traces the historical evolution of executive order in Europe from the Peace of Westphalia through classic inter-governmental organizations to the allegedly unique EU framework. The book's analysis covers both the formal legal structure of the Union and the evolution of the EU's living institutions in practice. The picture presented is of a fragmented, cluttered and complex European executive space, resistant to radical constitutional reform and in need of a more nuanced understanding of the different forms of executive power required by different political aims and modes of decision-making.