Parliamentary European Semester activity scores

This numerical dataset provides data on parliamentary scrutiny activities at the committee level and in the plenary related to European Semester documents (Stability/Convergence Programmes – S/CP and National Reform Programmes - NRP and Country Specific Recommendations - CSRs) during 2014-2017 period. The sample includes 25 EU member states (not included: Greece, Malta and Cyprus) and 36 parliamentary chambers (not included: Austria’s and Slovenia’s upper chambers).
The dataset includes two composite scores, measuring the overall level of parliamentary European Semester scrutiny performed (S/CP-NRP and CSRs scrutiny score) and the public aspect of performed scrutiny (S/CP-NRP and CSRs openness score) calculated for each parliamentary chamber and year under consideration. The aim of the composite scores is to provide a comprehensive and detailed measurement of the parliamentary participation in the European Semester in practice. A first composite score, the scrutiny score of national programmes (S/CP and NRP) and CSRs, consists of the following five dimensions: activity (calculating a number of parliamentary committee meetings and plenary debates), access to additional information (calculating a number of parliamentary hearings with the government officials, EU officials, and experts/stakeholders), outcome of the scrutiny (calculating a number of parliamentary statements and votes), parliamentary processing of the document (calculating a number of parliamentary committees involved in the scrutiny process and plenary debates), and timing (calculating a number of days since the first scrutiny activity took place in relation to the deadline for submitting the national programmes in April and publishing the final version of CSRs in July). The openness score for national programmes (S/CP and NRP) and CSRs is a second composite score. It measures the extent to which performed parliamentary scrutiny was public or publicly accessible. Finally, the dataset is completed by a compilation of additional country- and chamber- data generated by existing secondary data sources (see the list below).

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Polk, J., J. Rovny, R. Bakker, E. Edwards, L. Hooghe, S. Jolly, J. Koedam, F. Kostelka, G. Marks, G. Schumacher, M. Steenbergen, M. Vachudova. & M. Zilovic (2017) Explaining the salience of anti-elitism and reducing political corruption for political parties in Europe with the 2014 Chapel Hill Expert Survey data. Research & Politics (January-March): 1-9 [Data set]. https://www.chesdata.eu/2014-chapel-hill-expert-survey

Skazlic, I. (2022). National parliaments and EU economic governance: a comparative assessment of parliamentary scrutiny and public communication activities in the European Semester 2014-2017. [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Vienna

World Economic Forum. The Global Competitiveness Report [2014-2015 (2014)/2015-2016 (2015)/ 2016-2017 (2016)/2017-2018 (2017]. https://www.weforum.org/reports?query=global+competitiveness+report#filter