Explaining the European Parliament’s right to appoint and invest the Commission

Abstract:

The impressive development of the European Parliament's powers over Commission appointment and investiture may be explained by looking at interstitial institutional change and its subsequent formalisation. The Parliament, since it is less sensitive to failure and has a longer time horizon, was able to create interstitial change to its benefit by its ability to delay or block the functioning of the European Union. Interstitial institutional change may be formalised in the Treaty despite initial opposition by some member states because the informal rule has altered the status quo and thereby may have induced a preference change of member states. Given that pro-integrationist member states usually see granting more power to the Parliament as a priority, member states less inclined towards integration might grant more power to the Parliament if they perceive no de facto change in the existing power distribution linked to the formalisation.