The neglected effects of Europeanization in the member states : policy-making in directly EU-influenced and sovereign domains

Abstract

This article finds that the transformative power of deepening European integration on member states’ domestic policy-making processes is stronger than previously assumed. Moving beyond analysis of directly European Union-influenced domestic legislation, the article instead focuses on the indirect consequences that emerge from shifting policy competencies between levels of the European project. The main argument contends that as policy competencies move from the national to the European level, domestic policy-makers gain capacity to reallocate attention. The theoretical framework for this claim combines literature on Europeanization and agenda-setting theories to an argument of European integration’s influence on domestic policy-making processes. Empirical findings, examining 35 years of deepening European integration, suggest that patterns of policy-making for the sovereign and directly European Union-influenced domestic agenda shares assimilate as European integration progresses.