EUPROPS: A new dataset on policymaking in the European Union from 1958 to 2021

Abstract

The availability of datasets scraped from the European Union's websites has greatly advanced the systematic analysis of European integration. But despite their enormous value, European Union databases contain almost no information about policymaking during Europe's first two decades, and for later periods, they suffer from far more inconsistencies and errors than has been previously recognised. This article draws upon extensive archival research and manual coding to identify and correct several of these limitations. I present a new dataset (EUPROPS) containing information on proposals for European Union policy from 1958 to 2021 and their outcomes. To illustrate the value of the dataset, I present some surprising initial findings about patterns of policymaking across this 60-year period and identify avenues for future research.