Bottom-Up Dynamics and the Role of Institutional Channels Across Governance Levels

Implementation practices may become policy inputs, by entering the policy-making process as information or evidence at the national/supranational level. This process is heavily facilitated by the existence of four institutional channels, which connect those working on ground with the EU and the national levels. These are: (a) intermediate bodies, which are institutions placed in between governance levels and functionally enable communication between them (e.g. the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office and the Association of Italian Municipalities); (b) national and European parliamentary committees, which gather extensive information and enable direct institutional access to locally based actors through hearings and field visits; (c) EU agencies (e.g. Frontex, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) and (d) research services, which are a peculiarity of the EU institutional system and provide policy-makers with direct evidence from the ground. For each institutional channel, we will see how it works and interacts with the levels where information and evidence originate, on the one hand, and where policies are designed and approved, on the other. Overall, the chapter examines how and why implementation practices become a direct source of information/evidence and enter the policy-making process, as well as the most relevant substantive aspects that are brought forward.