Reforming the EU Budgetary Procedure: Is Codecision a Step Forward?

The EU Budgetary Procedure in the Constitutional Debate

Despite widespread calls for reforms of the EU budgetary procedure, the European Convention and, even more importantly, the Intergovernmental Conference seem to have generated only minor institutional adjustments. This paper aims to explore the lack of institutional change in the budgetary field. On the basis of a thorough analysis of the current budgetary procedure and a detailed assessment of...

The Inter-Institutional Distribution of Power in EU Codecision

This paper analyzes the a priori influence of the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of Ministers (CM) on legislation of the European Union adopted under its codecision procedure. In contrast to studies which use conventional power indices, both institutions are assumed to act strategically. Predicted bargaining outcomes of the crucial Conciliation stage of codecision are shown to be stro...

The Next Step Forward Is to Take a Step Back.

Understanding the causes of diabetes is at the heart of most diabetes research. The field of causal inference has made dramatic advances in methodology that allows for causal inference from observational and not experimental data (1). One such methodological advancement is the use of genetic markers as instrumental variables, or so-called Mendelian randomization (MR) (2). MR relies on the laws ...

The Challenge of Reforming Budgetary Institutions in Developing Countries

Reform of budgetary institutions1 is a continuous and never-ending process. Interest in such reforms can be traced back for at least 2000 years. For example, Roman planners of the Claudian aqueducts considered eventual O&M costs in selecting alternative routes and designs. In more modern times, there is evidence of a stream of reforms from the “tally sticks” used to record the budget in sevente...

One step forward