Politicization and Parliamentary Capital: Reconfigurations in the Multi-Level Parliamentary Field of EU Security and Defence Policy

Recent evolution of the role of the European Parliament (EP) in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) presents us with a double puzzle. First, against the common wisdom in International Relations that external threats tend to supress domestic contestation, we observe a growing politicization of CSDP issues, as reflected in the rising polarization of defence-related parliamentary votes over the past three terms. Secondly, the assumed link between politicization of international affairs and higher parliamentary scrutiny does not seem to hold in the area of security and defence, where the recent tendency is precisely the contrary - a less pro-active scrutiny of CSDP by the EP. This paper will seek to provide an explanation for this seemingly paradoxical evolution and assess its consequences for the broader EU parliamentary field. To do so, the paper explores the relation between politicization and “parliamentary capital”. The proposition advanced is that recent politicization trends are negatively affecting the EP’s ability to continue cultivating its informal parliamentary capital (e.g. expertise, closeness to decision-making power and symbolic positioning), traditionally used to compensate for its weak formal authority in the CSDP. While this tendency may prevent the re-occurrence of new episodes of friction between parliamentary levels, it also means that National Parliaments (NPs) are now under stronger pressure to scrutinize, and ensure sufficient public support for, current plans towards a Defence Union in a particularly critical moment for EU integration.