EU Committees: social regulation, law and politics

Book abstract:

This book stems from two research initiatives. One originated in Florence, Italy, the other in Bremen, Germany. The core event of the activities undertaken at the European University Institute, Florence was a conference on 'Social Regulation through European Committees: empirical research, institutional politics, theoretical concepts and legal developments' and most of the contributions to this volume were presented at that occasion. The second locus studiae was the Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP) in Bremen where the Volkswagen-Stiftung supported, through a generous grant, a long term research project on 'The assessment of the safety of technical consumer goods and of risks to health of foodstuffs in the praxis of European Committees ('Comitology')' directed by Christian Joerges.

This book aims to improve awareness and understanding of the activities of European committees in general and comitology in particular. It examines the performance of the committee system, particularly in the field of social regulation, from an interdisciplinary perspective with contributions by lawyers, political scientists and EU officials. It contains several field studies and documents the institutional debate involving the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council. Analyses of decision-making of committees by political scientists are contrasted with legal investigations into their functioning as administrative bodies. Contributions in the final section of the book focus on the constitutional issues presented by the EU's multi-level system of governance and discuss its legitimacy from various perspectives including theories of deliberative democracy.

http://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/hart/ http://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/hart/

---