Parliamentary dimension of the Council presidency: Testing a research framework through the case of the 2016 Dutch rotating presidency of the EU

Abstract

Abstract Measuring the level of parliamentary involvement in European Union (EU) affairs cannot be undertaken without any reference to the parliamentary dimension, an integral part of the 6-month rotating presidency of member states in the EU. The parliamentary dimension encompasses all activities performed by the presidency parliament, playing a crucial role in shaping EU decision-making processes. Although a recently published study by Kaniok and Nováková has addressed for the first time the theoretical groundwork for studying this phenomenon, their proposed research framework has not yet been applied to a specific case. This study addresses this gap by applying the framework to the Dutch presidency of the Council of the EU in 2016, evaluating its effectiveness, and refining it to ensure broader applicability. By doing so, it not only validates the framework but also enhances its potential for enabling comparisons of national parliaments across presidencies, facilitating the exchange of best practices, and developing a typology of national parliaments’ roles in the EU presidency.