2 The Commission's relations with national
parliaments
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; recommended for debate on the floor of the House with the 2013 annual report on subsidiarity and proportionality
|
| Document details | 2013 Annual Report from the Commission on relations between the Commission and National Parliaments
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
|
| Document number | (36269), 12425/14, COM(14) 507
|
Summary and Committee's conclusions
2.1 The Report provides an essentially factual overview of the
Commission's relations with national parliaments in 2013. By focussing
on the informal "political dialogue" between the Commission
and national parliaments it complements the report on subsidiarity
and proportionality which focusses on the formal subsidiarity
reasoned opinion mechanism.
2.2 This Report is set against a background of an increasing focus
on the importance of the role that national parliaments have to
play in providing the EU with democratic legitimacy.
2.3 The Commission report provides a useful digest of its relations
with national parliaments in 2013. It has been produced against
a background of ongoing debate on the role of national parliaments
in ensuring democratic legitimacy for the EU.
2.4 A genuine dialogue between the Commission and national
parliaments is of key importance to the latter's role in ensuring
the democratic accountability of the EU.
2.5 Given the fundamental importance of the subject matter,
we recommend this Report for debate on the floor of the House,
together with the report on subsidiarity and proportionality;
such debate to cover not only the contents of this report but
also the wider context of the role of national parliaments in
ensuring democratic legitimacy for the EU.
Full details of
the documents: Report
from the Commission — Annual Report 2013 on relations between
the European Commission and National Parliaments (36269), 12425/14,
COM(14) 507.
Background
2.6 The Report divides political dialogue into three
headings:
General bilateral and multilateral debates and
discussions
2.7 Such debates and discussions often take place
in the context of inter-parliamentary meetings. The Report notes
that the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs
of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) continued to be a
key forum; in 2013 the 49th COSAC Plenary was held in Dublin,
and the 50th in Vilnius, at which two debates were held on democratic
legitimacy and the role of national Parliaments, highlighting
the apparent disconnect between the EU and its citizens and the
importance of national parliaments using the tools at their disposal
to address this. The European Semester was also a feature of inter-parliamentary
discussions. There was increased awareness that, whilst stronger
coordination between Member States' macro-economic and budgetary
policies was needed if the EMU is to remain functional, any further
deepening of the EMU also needed to provide for strong democratic
control, including from national parliaments and the European
Parliament.
2.8 The Report notes that "European Parliamentary
Week" organised by the European Parliament in January 2013,
involving about 100 members from 26 national Parliaments, reinforced
consensus on the need to strengthen the European Semester's democratic
legitimacy by increasing national parliaments' ownership of the
process and their early involvement in this.
Written opinions from national parliaments
2.9 The Report records that a previous trend of an
increasing number of written opinions from national parliaments
had stabilised at 621 in 2013, which represented a small decrease
compared to the 663 of 2012; 14% were formal subsidiarity reasoned
opinions. Following changes to its internal procedures, the Commission
now usually replies to these opinions within a self-imposed time
limit of three months. The Commission assesses political dialogue
with national parliaments to have "clear added value".
80% of the opinions came from the 10 most active chambers with
most relating to legislative proposals. Fifteen legislative proposals
accounted for 23% of the opinions; those eliciting most were the
proposals on (1) the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's
Office, (2) the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative
provisions of the Member States concerning the manufacture, presentation
and sale of tobacco and related products, (3) establishing a framework
for maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal management,
(4) establishing a framework on market access to port services
and financial transparency of ports, and (5) on the European Union
Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation
and Training (Europol).
2.10 In 2013, as in
2012, six
policy fields accounted for more than half of the opinions received
in the context of the political dialogue (323 out of 596 in 2013).
These were justice, the internal single market and services, mobility
and transport, home affairs, health and consumers and communications.
Contacts and visits
2.11 The Report lists
various
contacts made by Commissioners with representatives of national
parliaments
in various fora.
Outlook
2.12 The Commission
notes
that national parliaments and the European Parliament have confirmed
their intention to be further involved in EU-level activities,
such as the European Semester; and that democratic legitimacy
will remain a key subject for discussion between the EU institutions
and national parliaments for some time to come.
2.13 It also notes
that, in April
2014, the European Parliament Committee for Constitutional Affairs
adopted a report by Carlo Casini which recommended that national
parliaments take steps to improve guidance and scrutiny procedures,
with a view to achieving greater consistency. It also highlighted
the early warning mechanism[6]
as one of the tools to ensure effective cooperation between European
and national institutions and welcomes the fact that the mechanism
is also used as a channel for consultation and cooperative dialogue
between the various institutions in the EU's multilevel governance
system.[7]
The Explanatory Memorandum of 28 August 2014
2.14 In his Explanatory Memorandum, the Minister
for Europe (Mr David Lidington) re-iterates the Government view
that national parliaments and national governments are the real
source of democratic legitimacy in the EU. As a consequence it:
· believes
that a new European Parliament and a new Commission offers a clear
opportunity for national parliaments to articulate their wish
for an enhanced role in the functioning of the EU;
· supports
effective early engagement by national parliaments in the development
of EU legislative proposals and other policies;
· remains
concerned that the Commission should ensure sufficiently early
circulation of documents for scrutiny;
· considers
that it is vital that the Commission fully engages and is seen
to engage with the views put forward by national parliaments in
both informal and formal political dialogue. An important part
of this is ensuring that national parliaments can see in concrete
terms how their involvement has had an impact. It therefore regrets
that the Commission did not use the opportunity of this report
to set out more clearly the policy impacts of engagement by national
parliaments;
· welcomes
the ongoing conversation across Europe about how to enhance the
role of national parliaments, including ideas from the Danish
and Dutch parliaments, those set out in the Lords inquiry into
the role of national parliaments, and the recent letter from representatives
of national parliaments to Commission President Juncker concerning
the establishment of a Commission working group on the role of
national parliaments in the EU;
· recognises
that whilst there are already many examples of good engagement
by Commissioners, this engagement is not consistent;
· recognises
the importance of continued engagement between UK MPs and MEPs,
and welcome further initiatives to this end; and
· supports
national parliaments' efforts to strengthen further COSAC, including
the suggestions in the Report of the European Select Committee
of 24 March 2014 on The Role of National Parliaments in the
European Union on how COSAC's procedures might be improved,
including through focusing on a smaller number of specific debates
and using ad hoc working groups in between plenary meetings to
enhance coordination.
Previous Committee Reports
None, but see, in respect of the 2012 Report (35241);
Twenty-Second Report HC 83-xx (2013-14), chapter 4, (6 November
2013).
6 Under Protocol 2. This is the procedure for national
parliaments to issue reasoned opinions objecting to proposed legislation
on subsidiarity grounds. Back
7
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