The European Union

Abstract

The chapter analyses the development of the European Parliament (EP) since the European Coal and Steel Community (1952). Specifically, it includes the establishment of an international parliamentary institution (IPI) in 1952, the initial creation of legislative powers in the Single European Act (1986), the renegotiation of legislative powers ahead of the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the extension and consolidation of legislative powers in the Treaty of Lisbon (2009). The EP is the earliest case of IPI establishment in the sample and the most successful case of IPI empowerment. Even though the effective conditions for IPI establishment and empowerment have varied over time, parliamentarization in the EU has generally resulted from strategic democratic legitimation in an IO characterized by a configuration of high and increasing authority, general purpose, and democratic membership.