Voting Unity of National Parties in Bicameral EU Decision-Making

This book provides a detailed study into whether Ministers in the Council vote the same way as Members of the European Parliament if they are from the same national party. The author explores the voting behavior of national representatives at the EU level, and this analysis is combined with insights from interviews with practitioners to shed light on the influence of national parties in the legislative process of the EU. This influence is found to be limited, as ministers in the Council and Members of the European Parliament submit to the constraints in their respective institutions rather than strictly voting along party lines. The study enhances our knowledge not only with regard to the role of national parties at the EU level, but also concerning the inter- and intra-institutional decision-making processes in the European Union. This book will particularly be of use to scholars and upper-level students interested in EU studies, legislative behaviour, and party politics.

• European parliament
• Council of Ministers
• voting behaviour
• bicameralism
• national representatives in the EU
• party politics
• legislative behaviour
• european union politics

“Based on huge data material, including many interviews, this book presents novel research on national political parties and bicameralism in the EU. The analysis is impressive. It pays critical attention to existing research and theoretical approaches. It is methodologically sophisticated.  It clearly adds to our knowledge about EU decision making and legislative politics.” (Finn Laursen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)

“This work is of crucial interest for scholars of EU decision-making and multi-level party politics. It provides important insights into how party-based democracy works at the European level – or, rather, shows how it indeed fails to work most of the time.” (Wolfgang C. Müller, University of Vienna, Austria)

• University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria

  Monika Mühlböck

Monika Mühlböck is Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Economic Sociology at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has previously worked at the University of Salzburg, the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the University of Mannheim. Her research focuses on the European Union and legislative behavior.

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