Europa jenseits des Parlamentarismus

The study focuses on informal strategies and practices of Members of the German Bundestag in influencing EU legislation. It sheds light on how, where and with whom German parliamentarians cooperate to informally influence EU decision-making processes and to control the activities of the German Federal Government. By capturing difficult-to-access informal practices of information retrieval and action coordination with policy-makers in EU institutions, the study fills an important research gap with regard to the functioning of EU multi-level parliamentarism. Using a qualitative empirical case study on EU research policy, typologies of informal action strategies of MPs and the categorisation of cooperation formats in influencing the EU level are developed. The study addresses those who analyse the constitution of the parliamentary democracy of the EU from a practical as well as a scientific perspective. It provides insights into the entanglement of federal and European politics.