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Divided we stand

O-Keefe_Wieczorek
Míchéal O’Keefe (European Central Bank) & Marta Wieczorek (European Central Bank)

The quest for a solution to the European financial crisis has produced divisions inside the European Parliament. Nonetheless, Mícheál O’Keeffe, Marion Salines and Marta Wieczorek show that internal divisions did not shape the EP’s external negotiation strategy in trilogues with the European Commission and the Council. Their article “The European Parliament’s strategy in EU economic and financial reform” published in the Journal of European Public Policy illustrates that the EP opted for similar bargaining tactics when it stands united (financial supervision) and when it is divided, as in the case of economic governance reforms. In both instances, parliamentarians placed a premium on legitimacy and transparency concerns with regard to the EU’s response to the crisis.