National Parliaments and the EU - interparliamentary cooperation
The national parliaments of the EU member states, in addition to their classic functions of the legislative power, exercise also powers and duties resulting from the EU Treaties and the national laws implementing and supplementing them.
National parliaments in the EU treaties
The Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TfEU), as in force since 1 December 2009 under the Treaty of Lisbon (known as the “Treaty of Parliaments”), significantly strengthen the position of national Parliaments in the Union affairs, which is regarded as one of the most important systemic reforms of the Union. Article 12 TEU and two protocols attached to the Treaties, Protocol [no. 1] on the role of national parliaments in the European Union and Protocol [no. 2] on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are particularly relevant.
Article 12 TEU stipulates that national Parliaments contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union, and it lists their basic powers and duties in the scope of integration. These include: enhanced right to receive information and documents directly from the European Commission and other institutions, monitoring compliance with the principle of subsidiarity (defining the limits between the competences of the Union and the member states), of which the early warning mechanism is a key element, the right of veto over certain procedures, taking part in the monitoring of the area of freedom, security and justice, including the procedures of the political control of Europol and the evaluation of Eurojust activities, participation in extended and systematic interparliamentary cooperation, the organisational framework of which should be defined jointly by the national Parliaments and the European Parliament.
Subsidiarity check
The main powers conferred on national Parliaments by the Lisbon Treaty include the early warning mechanism regulated in Protocol no. 2. It allows a certain number of parliaments challenging the compliance of a draft legislative act with the principle of subsidiarity to have such a draft amended or withdrawn by its author (“yellow card”), or to have the ordinary legislative procedure, in respect of a Commission proposal, interrupted by the European Parliament or the Council (“orange card”). This mechanism involves national parliaments directly in the EU legislative procedure, but does not allow them to block a draft act on their own. The national parliament is also entitled to lodge a complaint with the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) regarding a legislative act that violates the principle of subsidiarity. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, national parliaments have adopted 3 yellow cards and no orange card, and no complaints have been lodged with the CJEU.
Political dialogue
Moreover, national Parliaments provide the Commission and the European Parliament with their opinions and comments not only about the compliance of draft legislative acts with the principle of subsidiarity, but also on the substance of legislative proposals and other documents in all areas of the Union policy. These activities are not regulated by European Union law and are carried out in the framework of the so-called political dialogue launched in 2006 at the initiative of the then President of the European Commission.
European competences of parliaments in national law
It should be emphasised that the effective exercise by national parliaments of the many powers conferred on them by the Lisbon Treaty is the domain of domestic laws and the constitutional practice of each member state. This refers to such issues as a possibility of co-determining the position of the government in the process of EU lawmaking, the procedure for examining the principle of subsidiarity, the transposition of the European law into internal legal order, participation in the ordinary procedure for amending the Treaties, exercising the right of veto in relation to simplified procedures for amending the Treaties or receiving information on applications to join the Union.
Mechanisms of parliamentary cooperation at the EU level
However, the ability of national parliaments to exercise their numerous European competences to the full extent depends not only on the legal instruments available to them at the Union and national level, but also on the mechanisms of parliamentary cooperation established at the Union level. Protocol No. 1 provided the basis for a significant strengthening of these mechanisms, as in accordance with its provisions, national parliaments and the European Parliament can jointly define the rules of “effective and systematic” interparliamentary cooperation. Referring to such a mandate in the primary law, the parliaments – in addition to the already existing Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments (EUSC) and COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the EU) – have developed other specialised bodies, mainly in the form of standing interparliamentary conferences addressing, among others, foreign and security policy, economic governance in the Union, the political monitoring of Europol or the evaluation of Eurojust activities. These conferences (with the exception of the meetings regarding Eurojust) are hosted by the parliaments of the member states holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, independently or jointly with the European Parliament. This cooperation also gave rise to the 2021 revision of the Hague Guidelines of 2004 on interparliamentary cooperation in the EU (Guidelines on interparliamentary cooperation in the EU, 2021).
IPEX - Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange
National Parliaments and the European Parliament, with a view to fostering interparliamentary cooperation in the Union, created in 2006 IPEX – a platform for the electronic exchange of information on EU matters, which allows parliaments to publish, among others, their reasoned opinions on infringement of the principle of subsidiarity and opinions in political dialogue. IPEX also includes a calendar of meetings and websites of standing interparliamentary conferences. In accordance with the conclusions of the EUSC, the platform is intended to serve as a one-stop shop for interparliamentary EU information exchange and to be a reliable source of public information in this regard.
Towards a European function of national parliaments
The strengthening of the position of national parliaments and their competence acquired under the Lisbon Treaty, and specified in the national law, allow parliaments, in addition to their traditional tasks, to build a new function in the area of EU integration – the European function. One of its important elements is interparliamentary cooperation, the major part of which takes place within the framework of permanent bodies, mainly interparliamentary conferences, that constitute a forum for debate and facilitate the exchange of information and experiences both in relation to EU policies and in the area of scrutiny of national governments in EU matters. All this creates opportunities for national parliaments to be really involved in EU decision-making processes and to develop the democratic legitimacy of the European Union.
