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Institutional Pressures: The Commission After Lisbon

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Abstract

This chapter assesses a second set of pressures: challenges to the Commission’s authority stemming from institutional reforms at the EU level. Building on the impact of progressive delegations of power to the European Parliament, two key developments in the late 2000s—the Lisbon Treaty and the Eurozone crisis—have further impacted on the Commission’s position. Focusing on the first of these developments, this chapter argues that Lisbon’s strengthening of the European Council and Parliament, together with the creation of new institutional rivals in the shape of the President of the European Council, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and EEAS have contributed to the general trend of shifting influence and power away from the Commission.

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Brown, S.A. (2016). Institutional Pressures: The Commission After Lisbon. In: The European Commission and Europe's Democratic Process. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50560-6_4

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