Abstract
The book The European Parliament and Its International Relations, edited by Stelios Stavridis and Daniela Irrera, consists of a series of empirical analyses on the development of the European Parliament’s (EP) international role after the Lisbon Treaty (LT), which was signed in 2007 and came into force in 2009. This recent study provides a valuable contribution to the literature by offering an overall assessment of EP existence as a supranational institution and its role in the international arena.
The book consists of three parts. Part 1 consists of seven chapters. In chapter 1, Laura Feliu and Francesc Serra analyze the EP’s ability to enhance human rights promotion in the world. As the institution symbolizing the normative dimension of the EU, the authors investigate the ways in which the EP’s authority and legitimacy and its role in the international human rights have grown over the years.
In chapter 2, Sarah Delputte and Joren Verschaeve analyze to what extent and in what ways the EP has managed to deal with the implementation of the development assistance provided by the European Union (EU) institutions. This study expects that the EP will play an ever more important role in the EU’s development policy considering the expansion of the parliament’s co-legislative powers with the Lisbon Treaty. In chapter 3, Lore Van den Putte, Ferdi De Ville, Ferdi de Ville, and Jan Orbie focus on the EP’s influence over the EU trade policy in the post-Lisbon period. In chapter 4, Panagiota Manoli and Georgios Maris analyze the implications of the Eurozone’s debt crisis for the EU’s legitimacy and accountability.
In chapter 5, Katja Biedenkopf provides an overview of the EP’s involvement in EU external climate governance. In addition to the different types of EP involvement in EU external climate governance, the changes after the LT are mapped out. It is argued that the EP is a major driver of ambitious EU internal environmental policies, with the help of parliamentary delegations and MEPs. In chapter 6, Clara Portela analyzes the EP’s activities on nonproliferation and discusses how the EP positioned itself vis-à-vis the new dimension of EU foreign policy. The author argues that the EP has made positive contributions to the EU’s emerging role in nuclear nonproliferation. In chapter 7, Andrea Gawrich discusses the ways in which the EP promotes democracy by looking at its role in election observing in third countries.
Part 2 starts with chapter 8 authored by Stephen Kingah and Andrea Cofelice. The authors discuss how the EP has been engaging with other regional parliamentary organs in Africa, with a specific focus on various forms of parliamentary and joint parliamentary groupings in the continent. This case study is based on an analysis of cooperation between the EP and African parliaments.
In chapter 9, Clarissa Dri analyses the evolution of relations between the EP and Latin American counterparts in the context of bi-regional interparliamentary relations. Regarding the motivation for the MEPs and the EP’s action in the region, the need of increasing the EP’s internal legitimacy is stressed. In chapter 10, Davor Jancic focuses on transatlantic parliamentary cooperation between the EU and the United States. In chapter 11, Jürgen Rüland and Astrid Carrapatoso analyzes the relations of the EP and its parliamentary counterparts in Asia. Chapter 12, written by Hrant Kostanyan and Bruno Vandecasteele, analyzes the EP’s role that sheds light on interparliamentary forum between the EP and Eastern Partnership countries within the framework of EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly.
Part 3 of the book deals with the EP and international conflicts. In chapter 13, Maria Gianniou addresses the EP’s role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The author argues that in the Middle East, the EP has managed to acquire a significant and complementary role to that of the EU and its member states. In chapter 14, Roderick Pace and Andre Vella deal with the Cyprus issue. The study addresses the weakness of the EP in taking concrete steps towards solving the Cyprus problem. In the final chapter, Lorinc Redei analyzes the diplomatic role played by the EP in Kosovo based on the background information about the Kosovo conflict, the author describes the EP initiatives towards this territory and its external action through its parliamentary diplomacy as an important case of parliamentary involvement.
The book, with its focus on EP’s international action from different perspectives, is an interesting read. This empirical study, which explores EP’s international action in the post-Lisbon period, is structured flowing from sectorial and policy-oriented issues toward geographical-oriented areas. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the EP as governance system by looking at its policies and international relations. Overall, the book can be considered as a considerable contribution to the literature of EU politics and institutions.