Why have the national governments of EU member states successively endowed the European Parliament with supervisory, budgetary, and legislative powers? In this major contribution to the study of the European Parliament, Berthold Rittberger develops an original and compelling theory of delegation to representative institutions, and demonstrates just how and why the European Parliament has become so powerful.

• Introduction: Building Europe's Parliament


• Part I: Theory


• 1: The Empowerment of the European Parliament: Lessons from the New Institutionalism and Democratic Theory


• 2: Parliamentary Institutions in International Polities: What are the Conditions?


• Part II: The European Parliament's Power Trias


• 3: The Origins of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community


• 4: Budgetary Powers and the Treaty of Luxembourg


• 5: Legislative Powers and the Single European Act


• 6: From Maastricht to the Constitutional Treaty: The Return of National Parliaments?


• Conclusion: No Integration without Representation?


• Bibliography