On 1 February 2012, member states of the European Union minus the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic agreed on the text of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (the Fiscal Compact Treaty or FCT), subsequently signed on 2 March 2012. The new...

The European Parliament (EP), like the US Congress, is often depicted as a parliament with strong committees and weak parties. This article compares the powers of the EP's committees with their counterparts in national legislatures and examines the role of party groups in the committees....