THE EUROPEAN-PARLIAMENT AS A CONDITIONAL AGENDA SETTER - WHAT ARE THECONDITIONS - A CRITIQUE OF TSEBELIS (1994)

Tsebelis (1994) argues in the American Political Science Review that t he European Parliament has important power due to its right as a condi tional agenda setter. I claim that Tsebelis' argument is based either on an incomplete analysis or on inaccurately specified decision rules. An accurate modeling of the cooperation procedure as stated in Articl e 189c of the Treaty of the European Community and as applied in pract ice changes the results considerably. Based on such a model, I provide an explanation of why the European Parliament sometimes can make succ essful amendments.