"Preface" [2008] ELECD 267; in Best, Edward; Christiansen, Thomas; Settembri, Pierpaolo (eds), "The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: The Institutions of the Enlarged European Union

Editor(s): Best, Edward; Christiansen, Thomas; Settembri, Pierpaolo

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203458

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Preface
This volume brings together the results of research conducted by a number
of scholars in the context of EU-CONSENT ­ a `Network of Excellence'
funded under the European Union's 6th Framework Programme for
Research and Development. EU-CONSENT brings together researchers
from some 50 institutions from across Europe to share their research
output on the question of `Wider Europe, Deeper Integration?' The activ-
ities of the network, which is led by Wolfgang Wessels at the University of
Cologne, are organized around a number of different `work packages'
focusing on theoretical questions, sectoral studies and institutional dimen-
sions of the relationship between EU reform and enlargement. This present
volume publishes the research output of those who have been working
together in `Work Package IV', which addresses the evolution of the EU's
institutional system in the context of enlargement. This work package,
which is coordinated at the European Institute of Public Administration
(EIPA) in Maastricht, is made up of four teams which are, respectively,
looking at the role of national governments in Council and comitology (led
by Edward Best and Thomas Christiansen), the European Commission
(John Peterson), the European Parliament (Brendan Donnelly) and the
bodies representing sub-state authorities and organized civil society at
European level (Simona Piattoni). Each team has examined the way in
which the enlargement process and the arrival of the representatives from
the new member states has, or has not, changed the institutional mech-
anisms in those spheres. This book is the first joint effort ...