Accountability Deficits in European 'Comitology' Decision-Making

Abstract

Comitology committees are often accused of not being accountable. This paper aims to provide building blocks to analyze the validity of this claim. After briefly discussing the meaning and aims of accountability, it is discussed where the actual accountability problems can be expected. Institutionally, one may expect them between the committees and the Commission on one side, and the Council and European Parliament on the other. Even the currently introduced new procedures cannot fully remedy accountability problems emerging there. Individually, one may expect accountability problems in the delegation of tasks to more or less autonomously operating experts. This twofold analysis may help further empirical research in this area.

Keywords: comitology, accountability, multilevel governance, implementation, European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Ministers