Book Description

The thesis compares EU practice and discourse on the role of parliaments in the EU across time, in the Assemblée nationale and the Bundestag. The thesis brings to light the presence of a European Integration Paradox: Members of Parliaments' rising experience in EU participation has led to an increasing importance of domestic roles for MPs' 'word and deed' in EU affairs. EU practice is analysed through 'thick description,' which is based on primary and secondary interview evidence with current and historical parliamentary actors as well as the study of documents and secondary literature. Assessments of discourse on the role of parliaments are conducted through a systematic deductive-inductive analysis of debates on selected EU treaty changes. This thesis argues that neo-institutionalisms currently prevalent in EU studies are inadequate for understanding the institutionalisation processes at work in national parliaments with increasing EU legislation. Integrating elements of practice theory, of the social-constructivists Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann and the 'old' institutionalism of Max Weber, the observations can be interpreted as change of 'motives' of discursive action of the actors. With rising experience of 'doing EU', Members of Parliament evaluate the role of parliaments in the EU less on the basis of a priori considerations but depending of their day-to-day parliamentary practice.