Between contestation and compromise? An evolutionary analysis of eurosceptic MEPs in the EP’s INTA committee

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article aims to unravel the connection between the representation of Eurosceptic MEPs and the EP’s position on Preferential Trade Agreements. As a result of the growing importance of the EU’s trade policy and the uneven contestation thereof in public space, this question seems of great importance. By zooming into the EP’s INTA Committee, this article shows how the increasing representation of Eurosceptic MEPs shapes their mobilization on PTAs. More specifically, the article examines INTA's Own Initiative Procedure reports in the EP’s 6th, 7th, and 8th legislative terms. Using a facet of the Post-Functionalist framework, it retraces the evolution of Eurosceptic MEPs’ mobilization at the Committee and plenary levels, and points to the impact thereof on the EP’s position on PTAs. In terms of results, the article finds that while Eurosceptic MEPs remain unable to substantially shape the EP’s position, Eurosceptic MEPs can increasingly build contesting coalitions.