whether such a change in party strategy will cause internal dis-equilibrium. 4) Party-government relations: Participation of government leaders in EU forums may strain relations with the party on particular policies. In other words, inter-governmental bargaining - either in an inte r-governmental conference, European Council, or Council of Ministers/COREPER - may distance the government/party leader from party programmatic positions in an unintended fashion. This may set into motion qualitative changes in the nature of party-government relations over time. Party-government relations on EU matters may become push-pull in nature. Government is pushed by party to maximalist positions on matters close to party programme, for example in the area of ​​social policy for social democratic parties. Government is pulled by party to minimalist positions on institutional change, ie, deeper integration, that run counter to notions of state sovereignty. This stance may not necessarily represent an ambivalence or hostility towards the EU itself, but may signal a preference towards retention of domestic control over policy areas which involve direct benefits accruing to the party, for instance where interest groups are aggregated within the policy orbit of a party. EU competence in a new policy area triggers a new constellation of interest group strategies, which may imply a de-emphasis on party relations.
) Relations beyond the national party system: Europeanization may result in new perspectives on transnational co-operation with parties from other EU member states to the extent that new organizational and programmatic activities are promoted. Niedermayer (1983) proposed a model of development for a European level party organization, differentiating between three stages: contact, co-operation, and integration. The four major party families represented in the European Parliament have some form of transnational party organization affiliating member national parties. The social democratic Party of European Socialists and the christian democratic (and increasingly conservative) European People s Party are the furthest along in the co-operation stage, with a permanent organization and frequent and prepared interaction. The Liberal and Green federations follow (Dietz, 2000). five areas described above have obvious overlaps, yet a careful research design seeking to test for evidence of Europeanization can profitably incorporate two or more of these areas. For instance, although growing EP party group voting discipline has been noted (Attina, 1990; Hix, 2001), the attention brought by national parties at the time of agreeing a transnational party line (area 5) can be linked to those parties also engaging in programmatic change (area 1). In other words, do parties do more than simply change rhetoric, and actively project their new concern for European level dynamics at potential access points in the EU system? Uncovering a definite link would be persuasive evidence of national parties multilevel operation.
Conclusion
, political parties are limited in their response to the impact of the European Union on national politics and policy-making. Finances, electoral strategies, relations with government, opposition status, all are based upon national considerations. The increased relevance of the EU for domestic policies impacts parties, but not in such a manner that a policy or institutional response route is clear. EU specialists within individual parties share the same problem as national parliaments namely, there is no one person nor parliamentary committee that can have sole responsibility for EU issues, since strictly speaking the EU is involved in so many policy areas. This emphasises not only the need for co-ordination between party, government and EP delegation, but also transnationally between parties, relevant ministers, and the respective party groups in the EP. What I have tried to accomplish in this article is to provide a basic framework with which to investigate changes in political parties that result from the challenge presented to their classic functions by the impact of the EU upon their primary operating environments, the nationalpolitical system. The overarching process of responses by parties is labelled Europeanization, manifested in a variety of possible actions. These responses may include organizational changes repositioning the role of their EP delegation; programmatic developments signalling a more sophisticated attention to the influence of the EU in domestic policy-making; increased factionalism or even new party formation; an additional di...
