Sidelined Member States: Commission-learning from Experts in the Face of Comitology

ABSTRACT

The European Commission has built up an extensive system of expert committees over the last two decades, and reliance on these groups has become an indispensable part of EU public policy. Recent work on expert groups’ distribution across policy fields, composition, institutional features and role in the policy process attests to their significance. The likely effects of expert group involvement, however, are largely unexplored. This paper examines how involvement of expert groups empowers the Commission vis-à-vis member states. It looks at the Commission’s involvement of and learning from an expert group within the management of Europe’s first programme on technologies for the Information Society. Programme management was regulated by a comitology committee, which helps to identify the conditions under which a sidelining of member states may occur.

Key Words:

• Comitology
• European Commission
• expert groups
• ICT policy
• knowledge
• learning

Notes

1. See [http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/reexpert/] (accessed 15 October 2012).

2. EU Regulation 182/2011 of 16 Feb 2011; see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:055:0013:0018:EN:PDF (accessed 13 November 2012).

3. DG INFSO is furthermore distinguished by its relatively high-calibre staff. More than half of the 540 people working for the administration were scientifically trained, performing administrative and advisory duties.

4. This paper does not use the full data set but draws on parts of it to analyse DG learning from experts in the IST advisory group.

5. Both interviews with Commission staff and comitology members, and the Commission’s report on the working of the comitology system during 2003 and 2010 indicate lack of Council Intervention; see COM(2004) 860 and COM(2011) 879 final; http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2004:0860:FIN:EN:PDF (accessed 13 November 2012.

6. See ISTAG Report (February 2009) Revising Europe’s ICT Strategy; http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/istag-reports.htm (accessed 13 August 2012).