The New European Parliament and Its Role in EU Trade Policy: Reset or Repeat?
In May 2019, elections took place to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEP) for the ninth legislature (2019–2024). The elections produced a Parliament with new features. Against a turnout of more than 50%, voters elected a record number of politic
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Contents 1 The Newly Elected European Parliament 2 What Is EU Trade Policy? 2.1 Non-Legislative Initiatives 2.2 Legislative Initiatives 2.3 Initiatives with Trading Partners Outside the EU 3 The Role of the European Parliament in Trade Policy 3.1 The OLP, Delegated Acts and Trade Agreements 3.2 Implementing Acts and the Right of Initiative 3.3 European Parliament’s Own Instruments and the Right to be Informed 4 The 2019–2024 European Parliament: What’s New? 4.1 Is the New European Parliament Institutionally Stronger? 4.2 Is There a Trade-Friendly Coalition in the New Plenary? 4.3 Is There a Trade-Friendly Coalition in the New INTA? 4.4 Do the Political Groups Have New Trade Priorities? 5 Results so Far in This European Parliament 6 Conclusion Reference
Abstract In May 2019, elections took place to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEP) for the ninth legislature (2019–2024). The elections produced a Parliament with new features. Against a turnout of more than 50%, voters elected a record number of politicians new to the European Parliament and a record number of female MEPs. The elections also marked the first time in the European Parliament’s electoral history that the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) did not win enough votes to form a majority I would like to thank Bruno Arce Baigorri, Martti Kalaus, Myriam Martins Gistelinck, Peter Sandler, Frauke Sommer, Jorge Vitorino, and Martina Vukusic for their help and for making this a better chapter. The views expressed in this chapter do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. G. Berends (*) European Commission, Brussels, Belgium e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2020, European Yearbook of International Economic Law 10, https://doi.org/10.1007/8165_2020_54
G. Berends
and an obvious new ruling coalition has not yet revealed itself. This chapter will consider whether this new Parliament with these novel features will promote a revised trade policy or whether it will remain as supportive of trade policy as the eighth legislature. This chapter will first look at the formal and informal powers of the European Parliament for each of the instruments that together constitute EU trade policy. It then looks at whether the new legislature is likely to change trade policy by examining three questions: (a) has the new European Parliament gained institutional strength?; (b) has the numerical strength of a trade-friendly coalition changed?; (c) is it likely that new political ideas or priorities within the political groups lead to a revision of their views on trade policy?
1 The Newly Elected European Parliament In May 2019, elections took place to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEP) for the 2019–2024 legislature. The most conspicuous result was that both the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) lost a large number of seats. For the first tim
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