The European Union Law Working Group is pleased to invite you to a book presentation with the author.
About the book:
What role do rules really play in shaping the behaviour of legislative actors? In theory, competences and procedures provide a framework within which ministers, members of parliament, and senators draft and bargain over legislative proposals. This book looks at competence rules as possible objects of political contestation in the European Union (EU). While competences and procedures are often viewed as fixed constitutional features, this study shows that they are frequently contested and reimagined in practice.
Drawing on both historical records and quantitative data, the book demonstrates how the European Commission, Parliament, and Council strategically reshape legal competences to advance their institutional and political goals. Such competence contestation highlights that the questions of who decides, and in accordance with which procedure, are often as contentious as the policy issues themselves. Far from simply following the rules, EU actors adapt their application in response to political pressures, with the Court of Justice providing limited and selective oversight. This dynamic results in recurring legal disputes which, while reducing efficiency and diluting policy focus, have become a stable feature of EU governance. The book offers a comprehensive theoretical and empirical account of these processes, providing new insights into the flexible, political nature of lawmaking in the EU.
About the author:
Dr Michal Ovádek is a lecturer (assistant professor) in European Institutions, Politics and Policy in the UCL Department of Political Science. His research focuses on European integration, judicial politics and Central and Eastern Europe. A consistent theme in his work is the functioning of legal institutions, especially courts, and their impact on politics and society. Previously, Michal worked as a researcher at universities in Sweden and Belgium. He also worked as a political advisor in the European Parliament between 2019 and 2021.
The European Union Law Working Group is a forum where EUI members, external researchers, and practitioners working on European Union law discuss their work and interact with other scholars. All interested fellows, PhD researchers, professors and visiting academics are invited to participate.
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