Enhancing Legitimacy: The Role of Consultation Practices on Commission’s input and output legitimacy
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2024-06-21
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en
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This thesis examines whether the European Commission strategically emphasizes certain types of information gathered from stakeholder consultations in its policy proposals, with the aim of claiming output and/or input legitimacy. Building on Verdenius' (2018) research, this study enhanced the framework and used a larger dataset. It employed a quantitative analysis of 331 policy proposals from January 2016 to December 2023, focusing on the consultation section in the Explanatory Memoranda. The research tested whether policy characteristics influences emphasis on certain type of legitimacy in policy proposals. The findings indicate that there is no significant pattern in how the Commission’s referencing of consultation inputs, based on the tested variables. This suggests that other factors may influence the Commission's consultation practices more than previously assumed. The study also highlights the variability in how different Directorate-Generals document consultation results, thereby questioning the effectiveness of existing Better Regulation guidelines aimed at ensuring transparency.
In conclusion, while the anticipated strategic use of consultation inputs was not supported, this research contributes to an understanding of the European Commission’s consultation regime. It also emphasizes the need for further qualitative research to explore alternative explanations for the observed practices.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen