The Role of National Parliaments in the EU

Abstract

Since the 1980s the role of national parliaments related to issues of European integration and politics in the European Community/European Union (EC/EU) has been given greater attention. First, there were efforts within national parliaments of EC/EU Member States to introduce provisions for new institutional and procedural rules designed to give (and strengthen) the respective parliament a role in EC/EU-related decision-making, focusing on the national level. As a consequence, one could observe concrete activities of national parliaments in dealing with EC/EU matters. Second, there were statements made at the European level – in the context of treaty revisions starting with the Treaty of Maastricht – not only mentioning the role of national parliaments in the institutional architecture of the EU, but demanding that their role be strengthened. These efforts culminated in considerations within the European Convention on the role of national parliaments and, as a result, in new provisions included into the Constitutional Treaty. Following the failure of this treaty project, the respective provisions are now included in the Treaty of Lisbon.