Transnational Bureaucratic Networks in the EU: The Role of Parliamentary Officials in Inter-Parliamentary Coordination and Control

Abstract

The pressure for national parliaments to cooperate systematically with one another and the need to develop a high level of technical and legal expertise (see Chapter 1) have led to the growth of a network of permanent representatives of national parliaments (NPRs) to the European Union. These are (unelected) officials that are dispatched by their respective national parliaments to Brussels for a certain period of time. Despite the fact that this network has rapidly expanded — it now encompasses representatives from almost all 28 national parliaments,¹ with some bi-cameral parliaments sending two representatives — it has received little academic attention. The number of NPRs has not diminished, not even during the economic and financial crisis; in fact, the number has consistently expanded since 1991. Even the parliament of a non-EU member state, Norway, now has a representative in Brussels.