West German Political Parties and the European Community: Structures without Function?

The German party debate concerning European Community policy-making is a low key affair which contrasts greatly with the situation in Britain. This paper examines the form of the debate in the Federal Republic and argues that the nature of the European institutions, of the German party system and, particularly, of internal party policy-making account for this situation. Three short case histories are used to show the operation of the ‘German model’ of party policy-making. The conclusion is that the parties seem to lack any clear function in their activities in connection with the European Community.