Abstract
The dual mandate has been compulsory for MEPs since the inception of the Communities. Members of the European Parliament had to be nominated by member governments from among the body of parliamentarians and according to the strength of parties represented in national parliaments. This system had a number of advantages and disadvantages, and the latter are usually believed to have outweighed the former. In defence of the dual mandate, it is usually asserted that it provided young, inexperienced or backbench MPs with experience in a forum where their activities would not, in the event of mistakes, redound to their disadvantage in national parliaments. In other words, service in the European Parliament was not seen as likely, in the short term, to jeopardise careers in the national arena or to prevent an MP attaining ministerial office later in his member state.
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Notes
H. Vredeling, ‘The Common Market of Political Parties’, Government and Opposition, VI (1971). 448–61, at p. 455.
W. Pickles, ‘Political Power in the EEC’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 11 (1963) 63–84, at p. 66.
J. Lodge, The European Policy of the SPD ( Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1976 ) pp. 20–36.
M. Kolinsky, ‘Parliamentary Scrutiny of European Legislation’, Government and Opposition, X (1975) 46–69. The Committee’s Order of Reference is: to consider draft proposals by the Commission of the European Economic Communities for secondary legislation and other documents published by the Commission for submission to the Council of Ministers and to report their opinion as to whether such proposals or other documents raise questions of legal or political importance, to give their reasons for their opinion, to report what matters of principle or policy may be affected thereby, and to what extent they may affect the law of the United Kingdom, and to make recommendations for the further consideration of such proposals and other documents by the House.
See S. Auken et al., ‘Denmark Joins Europe’, Journal of Common Market Studies, XIV (1975) 1–36;
J. Fitzmaurice, ‘National Parliaments and European Policy-Making: The Case of Denmark’, Parliamentary Affairs, XXIX (1976) 310–26.
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© 1978 Valentine Herman and Juliet Lodge
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Herman, V., Lodge, J. (1978). The Dual Mandate. In: The European Parliament and the European Community. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15892-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15892-8_9
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