Necessary but not sufficient: understanding the impact of treaty reform on the internal development of the European Parliament

Article is part of a special issue entitled 'Dynamics of formal and informal institutional change in the EU'.
Article abstract:

This paper examines the impact of exogenous treaty reform on the internal organisation of the European Parliament (EP). After each major reform of the European Union (EU) treaties the EP took the opportunity to fully revise its own internal Rules of Procedure (RoP). This work reviews the key revisions of the Single European Act, Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties relative to the EP to gain an understanding of what types of internal EP reform were required by each new treaty. The actual reforms then undertaken by the EP to its RoP are then analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. This research highlights some broad patterns of Rules reform, but also how these have changed over time. In particular the balance between required Rules reforms and internally and externally oriented strategic reforms is examined.