ABSTRACT
The role of parliamentary administrations in European Union (EU) affairs has only recently caught the attention of academics. As a result, the body of literature is still small, and there is a dearth of broader comparative studies covering several national parliaments. This chapter provides an overview of the state of the art as well as an empirical update. It explains the current context of national parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It considers four aspects of the Europeanization of parliamentary administrations: the presence of EU experts, the role of committee staff in EU affairs, the role of staff in interparliamentary relations and the organization of research units. National parliaments were long considered late-comers in EU policy-making: at the outset, they were represented in EU affairs through their delegations to the consultative European Assembly. One of the most important of those in EU affairs is the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union.
