Comitology : who watches the watchmen?
By: DEHOUSSE, Renaud
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ArticlePublisher: Oxfordshire : Routledge, October 2003Journal of European Public Policy 10, 5, p. 798-813Abstract: This article discusses the transformations which have taken place in perceptions of the "comitology' system at European level. Whereas committees were initially conceived of as an instrument of intergovernmental control over the Commission, the evidence suggests that their functioning is generally consensual and that the Commission is among the most influential actors in committees. This explains the recent shift in the discussions over the committees' control function: the key issue is no longer how to preserve the Commission's autonomy from committees' interference, but rather how committees themselves can be kept under control, and by whom.
This article discusses the transformations which have taken place in perceptions of the "comitology' system at European level. Whereas committees were initially conceived of as an instrument of intergovernmental control over the Commission, the evidence suggests that their functioning is generally consensual and that the Commission is among the most influential actors in committees. This explains the recent shift in the discussions over the committees' control function: the key issue is no longer how to preserve the Commission's autonomy from committees' interference, but rather how committees themselves can be kept under control, and by whom.
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