Rationalising European Policies: a closer look at the Commission's references to consultations in policy proposals

Abstract

This paper examines whether there is a pattern in the way the Commission references the consultations that were done in preparation of a policy proposal, especially with regard to a focus on input or output legitimacy. It is determined to what extent the Commission focusses on either of the two based on an analysis of references to consultations in the Explanatory Memoranda of proposals for Directives tabled between 2014 and 2018. A multiple regression model is used to determine if there is a pattern based on indicators for Salience, Settings, and the Type of Proposal. The results show that there is no indication that such a pattern is present in the gathered data. However, further research is recommended based on the data-collection process and previous research.