EU Institutions and Inter-Institutional Relations in the EU: Unusual Suspects and Understudied Dynamics

The role and impact of institutions in the EU system of governance has generated a rich, if uneven, literature. Although scholars agree that institutions matter, they widely differ on how to interpret and explain their role. Contending approaches that respectively emphasise rational, historical and sociological explanations are helpful insofar as they contribute to understanding different dimensions of institutional complexity (Vanhoonacker and Neuhold 2015). In order to deal with this complexity within the practical political process, a wide range of both formal and informal institutional mechanisms for intra- and inter-institutional cooperation have been developed. We know relatively little however about the factors that explain the success or failure of the cooperation both within and across EU institutions. And, while the literature has typically focused on the legislative influence of the Commission, the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU, it has tended to neglect their other functions and responsibilities. Moreover, the roles of other formal institutions such as the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the European Court of Auditors, as well as informal institutions, such as the Eurogroup or emerging institutions, such as the European Public Prosecutor, have been somewhat eclipsed. Furthermore, although EU agencies have attracted increasing attention, individual case studies predominate and there has been little in the way of comparative research. Against this background we would especially welcome panel proposals that: • explore which theoretical approaches can help us to explain institutional behaviour and cooperation in the EU and to what extent contending conceptual approaches could be combined; • revisit or otherwise explore arguments about the EU executive, the EU legislature, the EU judiciary, or the EU administration; • examine institutions, formal and informal, that are not often at the centre of the scholarly debate, and shed light in how they contribute to shaping policy and control ‘behind the scenes’; • investigate informal and formal mechanisms of cooperation both within and across the EU institutions within different policy domains, possibly by way of adopting a comparative approach; • compare EU agencies in their development or operation.