With regard to interparliamentary relations in EU affairs, two main assumptions can be found in theoretical approaches: Crum and Fossum (2009) argue, within the “multi-level parliamentary field” a new deliberative space occurs through interparliamentary cooperation. Maurer (2012) takes interparliamentary cooperation as an instrument to improve parliamentary control vis-à-vis the executives. While both theoretical approaches emphasize that interparliamentary cooperation improves the democratic quality of EU decision making, the way how this is done differs: In Maurers point of view, interparliamentary cooperations is clearly part of the control function, Crum and Fossum place the cooperation more in the articulation-/representation function.
The study wants to analyze empirically, which parliamentary functions are touched by the interparliamentary cooperation of the “Dreierlandtag” and what changes can be observed after the Treaty of Lisbon. Therefore, discussions and documents are scanned in a discourse analysis and additionally, assumptions of members of the three parliaments are analysed through interviews.
