A book chapter on European Affairs Committees written by two Providus' researchers is published in 'Deliberative Democracy in the EU: Countering Populism with Participation and Debate'. The book is part of the Towards a Citizens’ Union (2CU) project co-funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ Programme. It is the product of collaboration with 20 renowned think tanks from the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN). This third and final volume follows the first two in the series, Direct Democracy in the EU: The Myth of a Citizens’ Union, and Representative Democracy in the EU: Recovering Legitimacy.

The chapter examines the general trends and best practices in national parliaments of the European Union for engaging in EU affairs. It analyses the position of European Affairs Committees, ex ante and ex post parliamentary scrutiny of governments, direct communication with EU institutions, and how a broader public is involved in EU issues. The position and weight of an EAC and indeed of the parliament differ from one member state to another, but nevertheless there are a certain number of common approaches that would help
a national parliament to increase its power relative to other national and EU institutions involved in EU policy-making.

The chapter is on page 149-165, and can be accessed (Pievienotais failspdf).