Deliberative Transnationalism? Analysing the Role of Committee Interaction in Soft Co-ordination

Abstract

The Treaty of Amsterdam defined employment policy as an area of common concern among the EU member states and provided a procedure for policy co-ordination based on cyclical processes, soft law, and peer review and pressure. Forms of governance based on other mechanisms of policy co-ordination than supranational law-making are emerging as increasingly important in the EU. This chapter investigates to what extent this type of soft governance is supportive of a deliberative mode of policy-making. (By focusing on interactions and socialisation effects within and across EU committees it complements the chapter by Meyer and Kunstein in this volume, who have explored the impact of policy co-ordination on public debates.)