Corinne Belvèze: Building influence in the interstices of the European Union. Mobilization and role of European local authorities in texts adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure ("circular economy" and "clean energy for all Europeans" packages)

Thesis supervisor

: François-Mathieu Poupeau

Do local authorities have any influence on legislation adopted through the ordinary legislative procedure at European level? Focusing on the cases of energy and waste and adopting a definition of influence as taken into account in the writings, the thesis follows how this type of actor mobilizes and tries to influence the Community legislative process throughout its course (from its preparation within the European Commission to the trilogues and the adoption of texts). To do this, it uses a methodology focused on the "drafters of the texts" and combining process tracing, attributed influence, and textual analysis. Our research shows that, depending on the case, local authorities can be more or less influential at all levels of the legislative process and that they are not necessarily supported by the Commission or Parliament as institutions. While certain political groups, segments of the Commission, or Member States seem more inclined to support them depending on the subject (with variability even within each sector), local and regional authorities are in fact faced with two obstacles: legislators' interpretation of the principle of subsidiarity and the objective of a competitive European internal market. In situations where, despite these obstacles, local authorities have a strong influence, we have identified certain formulations in legislative texts that make it possible to circumvent these obstacles, which we have termed "drafting workarounds." We highlight two types in our case studies: "mixed workarounds," which consist of integrating local authorities into a broader private category, and "invisibility workarounds," which avoid mentioning local authorities and their role. These "drafting workarounds" outline the influence of local authorities in the texts in small, relatively discreet steps, but one that is nonetheless very real.

Keywords

: European Union, local authorities, influence, ordinary legislative procedure, energy, waste

Doctoral school

: OMI – Organizations, Markets, Institutions

Thesis defense on Tuesday, June 16, 2020