This book examines accountability in the EU from different perspectives and considers whether EU citizens have real opportunities for holding decision-makers accountable. This book critically analyses five arguments which claim there are sufficient means for holding decision-makers to account in the Union. The main conclusion is that the current institutional set-up and practice of decision-making in the EU is one that merely creates an illusion of accountability. Using a strict framework focusing on the difference between formal mechanisms and actual opportunities for accountability, this highly coherent volume will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, especially those interested in the democratic foundations of the European political system. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book examines accountability in the EU from different perspectives and considers whether EU citizens have real opportunities for holding decision-makers accountable. This book critically analyses five arguments which claim there are sufficient means for holding decision-makers to account in the Union. The main conclusion is that the current institutional set-up and practice of decision-making in the EU is one that merely creates an illusion of accountability. Using a strict framework focusing on the difference between formal mechanisms and actual opportunities for accountability, this highly coherent volume will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, especially those interested in the democratic foundations of the European political system. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/docs/Open+Access+Chapters/9780415480994_oachapter1.pdf

Do EU citizens have real opportunities to hold decision-makers accountable, or does the current institutional set-up in the Union merely create an illusion of accountability? That is the central question of this volume. There are widespread and growing concerns that the political system of the EU does not, in fact, afford citizens appropriate mechanisms of accountability. The aim of the current study is to ascertain whether such concerns are warranted.

The Real World of EU Accountability examines how the European Union operates in practice and how and where its various institutions are held to account for the decisions they take and the power they wield.

The European Union's growing accountability deficit threatens to undermine its legitimacy; accordingly, member states have agreed to negotiate a new set of Treaty changes in 2004. These essays consider various aspects of accountability and legitimacy in the European Union.

This volume examines the theorization of democratic accountability and what accountability processes tell us about political order and orderly change.

It was a great pleasure to find such a rich analysis of the role of national parliaments in the EU. What I particularly like - and what proves to be particularly fruitful is the combination of perspectives; the EU law and national constitutional perspective including a comparative dimension, the perspective that explains the role of national parliaments in the EU from past to present (and even near future) and last but not least, the perspective of the interaction between the legal frameworks and the political reality. There is every reason to congratulate Adam Cygan wholeheartedly on this book. Ton Van Den Brink, Europa Instituut Utrecht, The Netherlands One of the most outstanding specialists on the role of national parliaments in the EU has produced another impressive book about this dynamic topic. It provides an illuminating overview of current practices, it sharply analyses the legal status quo, and it brings theoretical depth to the topic in multiple perspectives. Olaf Tans, Amsterdam University College, The Netherlands This accessible and detailed book takes an interdisciplinary approach in exploring the position of national parliaments in the EU polity and in particular their position within the EU governance framework. Adam Cygan analyses the impact of subsidiarity monitoring upon national parliaments and to what extent this provides new opportunities for national parliaments to be engaged in, and exert influence over, the EU legislative process. While the post-Lisbon position of national parliaments may have improved, this book questions whether national parliaments can really be considered as central actors in EU affairs. The author also queries whether subsidiarity monitoring has the capacity to create a collective bloc of horizontal actors which exert effective accountability over the EU legislative process. Accountability, Parliamentarism and Transparency in the EU will strongly appeal to academics, parliamentarians/parliamentary officials working in EU affairs, as well as EU civil servants.