Abstract
ABSTRACT The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has seemingly created a new window of opportunity for (pre-)accession candidates, reigniting the European Union’s interest in the subject of enlargement. While existing literature predominantly scrutinizes the Council and the European Commission, this article focuses instead on the European Parliament – an often overlooked yet crucial institution in the accession process. This study offers a first comprehensive examination of the European Parliament’s toolbox with respect to EU enlargement. It comparatively assesses both its formal or legal powers and its informal or political powers, taking into account how they have developed since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 and up to the December 2023 European Council meeting. Drawing on a combination of an extensive literature review and a systematic analysis of primary documents, this study analyses five key tools at the Parliament’s disposal; agenda-setting power, the consent procedure, standing parliamentary delegations, budget allocation, and parliamentary scrutiny. The findings reveal a notable disparity between the European Parliament’s formal powers and informal powers, thereby confirming its ‘self-empowerment’ strategy and simultaneously underscoring the consent procedure and the budget as the most prominent tools available for the European Parliament.
Published Version
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