In general, the EP and the Council tend to add complexity to the initial Commission proposal during legislative negotiations.

Below are some time trends from 1993 to 2025 for six of our indicators. The complexity of both Commission proposals and final EU laws has been increasing drastically over time, but some indicators seem to have reached a plateau in recent years.

Currently preparing a lecture on policy implementation. This slide's for you, @supaproject.bsky.social :-)

Call for abstracts: "Studying legislative design in the European Union and beyond" at the Dreiländertagung of the @dvpw.bsky.social at Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen from 17-19 June 2026.

If you'd like to join, please send me your abstracts and four keywords by 7 November!

Interestingly, subsequent changes to the complexity of the initial proposal are not affected by the introduction of bicameralism -> bicameralism works through anticipation when policy proposals are first formulated! (5/6)

The central finding of the article is that the agenda-setter anticipates the higher preference heterogeneity and the higher uncertainty in the bicameral setup and responds by issuing more complex proposals, while leaving the overall volume of legislation unchanged (4/6)

Specifically, I take advantage of the fact that the Treaty of Lisbon expanded the co-decision procedure in the EU to some legal bases (like agriculture & fisheries), while others remained under the (quasi-unicameral) consultation procedure (like taxation) (3/6)

🚨New article now available #openaccess at @jeppjournal.bsky.social

"Treated by the Treaty? How the expansion of co-decision affected the volume and complexity of EU legislation"

#EU #legislation #policy #Commission #complexity

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Short 🧵 (1/6)

Today, I had the honor to deliver the keynote speech at Constantin-Vanotti-School Überlingen on the occasion of the school's "Democracy Day". I talked about policy accumulation and the challenges it entails for democracies. Thanks to the school for organizing this important event and the invitation!

Meet the DEMOLAW-Team! Constantin Kaplaner (@kaplaner.bsky.social), Stefanie Rueß (@steffiru.bsky.social), myself, Amelie Sieber and Mike Cowburn (@mikecowburn.bsky.social). So much looking forward to the years ahead!

Follow us at @demolaw.bsky.social!

Today, we had the great pleasure to welcome the MEP Norbert Lins as a guest speaker to our MA seminar "European Institutions" at Zeppelin University. Thank you for the inspiring session that enriched our theoretical debates with some practical insights from the legislative activity in the EU!

On Thursday (30 January, 15 h CET), I will present research on the measurement, origins and consequences of policy complexity in the webinar "Metrics of Regulation", hosted by Nir Kosti and David Levi-Faur. I'll also talk a bit about my new project DEMOLAW. Stop by if you're interested!

Just deleted my X account for good. So long, Elon.

I am happy to announce that I will join Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen as Professor of European Politics in October. I could not be more excited to become part of this great faculty, meet the students and start a new chapter at the beautiful Lake of Constance!

The European Research Council awarded me a Consolidator Grant worth almost 2 million € for the DEMOLAW project. What a huge honor and privilege. I'm grateful to so many people who provided me with feedback and support along the way - you know who you are.