Displacement of the Council via informal dynamics? Comparing the Commission and Parliament

Abstract

This article will focus on the Commission's informal interactions with the Parliament and Council alike. With less to gain than the Parliament and more to lose, the Commission is involved in numerous tri-lateral informal accords and bi-lateral accords with the Parliament – informal agreements set outside the formal European Union (EU) Treaty. Directly related to the incessant inter-organizational power game among the EU's three primary actors, the Commission has engaged in a concerted informal influence attempt via its recent and much anticipated White Paper on EU governance. While the primary inter-organizational battle is fought between the Parliament and Council, there is a considerable amount at stake for the Commission. This article thus aims to ascertain how the Commission has faired in its own game of informal inter-organizational dynamics.