Abstract:
Shadow rapporteurs play an important role in developing the European Parliament’s collective
policy positions and in defending them in inter-institutional negotiations. This study sheds light
on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of shadow rapporteur selection. Qualitative insights from practitioner
interviews and a quantitative analysis of shadow rapporteur data from the 7th European
Parliament (2009-2014) indicate that the appointment process is primarily one of bottom-up
self-selection by group members based on their policy interests. The party group leadership, in
the form of group coordinators, plays an important coordinating role when there is competition
for a shadow rapporteurship. However, the role of group coordinators is more akin to a thirdparty arbiter of competing demands than a mechanism of top-down control by the leadership,
as suggested by principal-agent theory.
