Political Deadlock and Judicial De-Integration in the Single European Pharmaceutical Market

ABSTRACT

European integration in the pharmaceutical market is characterized by unequal progress. Achieved tradability and retained national price controls resulted in parallel trade for pharmaceuticals. The paper explains the processes and the outcomes of a long term negotiation process among member states, EU Commission and the pharmaceutical industry. The paper derives the constellation of preferences, analyzes the negotiation situation and explains the persisting deadlock, in which persisting divergence of preferences among the actors involved obstructed any political solution.

As a clear case in point of Tsebelis’ theoretical argument, this disagreement enabled the European Court of Justice to act as a stand-in policy maker. With its judgments, the court is setting a de-integration solution, which is tolerated by all political actors, albeit they could not agree on this policy in the negotiations. The solution set is likely to be stable, because there is no consensus to revoke it.