Loyal soldiers or seasoned leaders? The selection of committee chairs in the European Parliament

Bibliographic Data

ID7880313
AuthorsMihail Chiru (0000-0002-0811-5457, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume27
Issue4
Pages612-629
Publication date2020-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of European Public Policy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1350-1763 • E-ISSN: 1466-4429
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13501763.2019.1600573
OpenAlexW2936560213
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited30

Although European Parliament committee chairs play a salient role in the legislative process of the EU, we know virtually nothing about their selection and whether policy specialization and the individual attributes of the MEPs matter in the process. This paper draws on a unique longitudinal dataset that includes all full committee members, information on their past committee experience and office in the first seven terms of the EP and data on their parties. Despite the complex proportionality rules that govern the selection of committee chairs in the EP and the interdependence between their distribution and the allocation of other legislative offices, I find that chair seniority shapes the nomination of committee chairs. On the contrary, there is no evidence that European Party Groups use chair selection to reward their most loyal members, while EPG leaders did become chairs more often than regular members in the early terms

Legislature · Nomination · Nothing · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Salient · Selection (genetic algorithm · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration

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