The European Parliament as a principal

Among the main functions of traditional legislatures, legislative oversight has received comparatively little attention in the context of the European Parliament (EP). This research examines the evolution of the oversight tools available to the EP, exploring the relationship between the acquisition of direct legislative powers and the pursuit and use of oversight tools in policymaking. When the EP cannot directly shape the policy process, it initially focuses on acquiring oversight opportunities. Once these are obtained, the EP should then focus on ex-post oversight of decisions made by other institutions. However, the EP’s approach to oversight changes as it gains greater access to information through ex-ante oversight tools and acquires additional legislative powers, allowing it to have more influence over policy.