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Abstract
The 2–300 comitology committees monitor the EU Commission's use of delegated powers. Why should there be this unique and peculiar solution to a parliamentary control problem that is well known from all national political systems? This article argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the exact choice of comitology can only be explained by the actions of the Commission. The idea of comitology was introduced by the Commission, and it functioned as a focal point in the member states' negotiations on supranational administration in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The argument is substantiated in an analysis of the first uses of comitology within three widely different EU policy areas: agriculture, development aid, and customs policy. The general lesson is that the EU Commission can be an important informal agenda-setter in areas where it has no formal powers.
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Notes
1 Before the merger treaty of 1965 was implemented, the European Economic Community (EEC), The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) published their own separate Bulletins. In 1968 a common monthly Bulletin of the European Communities took over. These different bulletins are referred to in the text in an abbreviated manner – the EEC Bulletin and the EC Bulletin.