The treaty of Amsterdam and the codencision procedure.

Abstract

This paper presents spatial models of the European Union's codecision procedure, and studies whether the Treaty of Amsterdam significantly alters the procedure. The theory characterizes sets of successful proposals, i.e., sets of policies the Commission can successfully propose, sets of successful joint texts, i.e., sets of policies the Council and the Parliament can successfully propose, and equilibrium EU policies. It analyses the implications of the Treaty for the Equilibrium EU policies and the sets of successful proposals and joint texts. The paper finds that the Treaty eliminates the Commission's power under the codecision procedure and threatens to increase indecision. It also concludes that the Parliament's power may decrease as a result of the changes.Model; Models; Proposal; Equilibrium; Implications;