Transcript Diapositivo 1

4 April 2008
Meeting of SG
TREATY OF LISBON
and
National Parliaments
4 April 2008
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008 / mtp
Treaty of Lisbon and NP
The Treaty of Lisbon makes 46 references to
“National Parliaments”
17 in the corpus of the Treaty (TEU and TFEU)
29 in the protocols enclosed
Official Journal of the European Union C 306, 17.12.2007
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Treaty of Lisbon and NP
«NP contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union»
(Art 12.º TEU)
«encourage greater involvement of NP in the activities of the EU»
(PRNP)
«enhance their ability to express their views»
(PRNP)
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Treaty of Lisbon and NP
What’s new for our Parliaments?
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Treaty of Lisbon and NP
Article 12 TEU (new)
National Parliaments contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union:
(a) through being informed by the institutions of the Union and having draft
legislative acts of the Union forwarded to them (art. 1 PRNP);
(b) by seeing to it that the principle of subsidiarity is respected (art. 5 TEU, art. 69
TFEU, art. 352 TFEU and art. 3 PRNP);
(c) by taking part, within the framework of the area of freedom, security and justice,
in the evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of the Union policies in
that area (art. 70, 71 and 81 TFEU), and through being involved in the political
monitoring of Europol (art. 85 TFEU) and the evaluation of Eurojust's activities
(art. 88 TFEU);
(d) by taking part in the revision procedures of the Treaties (art. 48 TEU);
(e) by being notified of applications for accession to the Union (art. 49 TEU);
(f) by taking part in the inter-parliamentary cooperation between national Parliaments
and with the European Parliament (Title II PRNP).
1. Broader access to information
Information flow
Government & EU Institutions
NP
 forwarded directly by the
Commission to NP
 at the same time as to
the European Parliament and the Council
 forward directly by the Commission/EP/Council
1. Broader access to information
─
Consultation documents (green and white
communications, upon publication (art. 1 PRNP));
─
Commission’s annual legislative programme as well as any other
instrument of legislative planning or policy (art. 1 PRNP);
─
Draft legislative acts (art. 2 PRNP):
a) proposals from the Commission and its amended drafts (art. 4
PAPSP);
b) initiatives from a group of Member States and its amended
drafts (art. 4 PAPSP);
c) initiatives from the European Parliament, draft legislative acts
and its amended drafts (art. 4 PAPSP);
d) requests from the Court of Justice;
e) recommendations from the European Central Bank;
f) requests from the European Investment Bank for the adoption of
a legislative act;
papers
and
1. Broader access to information
─
Agendas for and the outcome of meetings of the Council,
including the minutes of meetings where the Council is
deliberating on draft legislative acts (art. 5 PRNP);
─
Court of Auditors' annual report (art. 7 PRNP);
─
Commission’s annual report on the application of Article 5 TEU
(compliance with the principle of subsidiarity (art. 9 PAPSP)).
2. Information/Communication/Notification
−
proposals for the amendment of the Treaties (ordinary revision proposals / participation at
the Convention) (art. 48(2) and (3) TEU);
−
adoption, by the Council, of a passerelle clause (comunication of the shift from the special
decision-making process - unanimity – to the ordinary decision-making process – qualified
majority (art. 48(7) TEU). If a NP makes known its opposition within six months, the
decision shall not be adopted);
−
Adoption, by the Council, of a flexibility clause (current article 308 TCE applicable only to
the 1st Pilar and new art. 352 TFE applicable to the EU (with no pilar division), exception
made to the CFSP);
−
application for EU accession (art. 49 TEU);
−
content and results of the implementation’s evaluation of the Union policies referred to the
AFSJ (full application of the principle of mutual recognition (art. 70 TFEU)).
2. Information/Communication/Notification
−
proceedings of the Council standing committee to ensure that
operational cooperation on internal security is promoted and
strengthened within the Union (art. 70, 71 TFEU);
−
proposal made to the Council by the Commission, in order to adopt a
decision determining those aspects of family law with cross-border
implications which may be the subject of acts adopted by the ordinary
legislative procedure (if a NP makes known its opposition within six
months, the decision shall not be adopted (art. 81(3) TFEU)).
3. Participation in evaluation/control mechanism
−
Eurojust activities (art. 85 TFEU);
−
Europol activities (art. 88 TFEU).
4. Monitoring the principle of subsidiarity
(art. 5 TEU, art. 69, 352 TFEU, and art. 3 PRNP)
NP ability to express their reasoned
opinion on whether a EU draft legislative act
complies with the principle of subsidiarity
Any draft legislative act should contain a detailed statement (PASP)
Early warning mechanism:
«yellow card»
«orange card»
4. Monitoring the principle of subsidiarity
A response to:
1. Legitimacy issues (strengthening the
democratic legitimacy of the EU by bringing it
closer to the citizens, through NP participation);
2. Competence matters (on shared competences
between EU and Member-States).
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
The EU decision-making triangle
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
COUNCIL
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
The limits and use of
Union competences
- Principle of conferral
- Principle of subsidiarity
(shared competences)
- Principle of proportionality
NP
(exclusive and shared competences)
Art. 5(3); art. 12b TEU; art. 69
TFEU; art. 3 PRNP; and art. 6
PAPSP only refer to the
compliance with the principle
of subsidiarity (not
proportionality), as far as the
role of NP is concerned.
4. Early warning mechanism
Shared competences
(art. 4 TFEU)
a) internal market;
b) social policy;
c) economic, social and territorial
cohesion;
d) agriculture and fisheries, excluding the
conservation of marine biological
resources;
e) environment;
f) consumer protection;
g) transport;
h) trans-European networks;
i) energy;
j) area of freedom, security and justice;
k) common safety concerns in public health matters.
8 weeks (art. 4 PRNP and art. 6 PAPSP)
NP may, within eight weeks from the date of transmission of
a draft legislative act, in the official languages of the Union, send to the EU
institutions a reasoned opinion stating why it considers that the draft in question
does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity.
(consult, where appropriate, regional parliaments with legislative powers)
This time frame does not apply to the regular parliamentary scrutiny activities
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
4. Early warning mechanism
«yellow card» (art. 7(2) PAPSP)
When reasoned opinions on the non-compliance with the principle of
subsidiarity of draft legislative acts represent:
- 1/3 of all the votes allocated to NP (each NP shall have two votes), or
- 1/4 of all the votes (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice)
the draft must be reviewed.
The EU institutions may decide to:
- maintain,
- amend or
- withdraw the draft.
Reasons must be given for this decision.
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
4. Early warning mechanism
«yellow card» (art. 7(2) PAPSP)
The draft proposal must be reviewed by the European Commission when:
- 1/3 or 1/4 of all the votes allocated to NP are gathered
For this purpose it should be considered the number of reasoned opinions:
Not on the same article
Not on the same paragraph
Not with the same reason
but
on a draft proposal, in general,
regardless the article, paragraph and/or reasons for the non-compliance
presented by each NP
4. Early warning mechanism
«orange card» (art. 7(3) PAPSP)
Under the ordinary legislative procedure (co-decision), where NP reasoned
opinions represent at least a simple majority of the votes:
the proposal must be reviewed.
If it chooses to maintain the proposal, the Commission will have to justify
why it considers that the proposal complies with the principle of subsidiarity.
This reasoned opinion, as well as the reasoned opinions of the NP will have
to be submitted to the Union legislator (EP and Council) for consideration :
- by a majority of 55% of the members of the Council or
- by a majority of the votes cast in the European Parliament
The legislator is of the opinion that the proposal is not compatible with the
principle of subsidiarity, the legislative proposal shall not be given further
consideration.
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Control «ex post» (art. 8 PAPSP)
Following the adoption of the legislation, the EU Court of Justice
shall have jurisdiction in actions on grounds of infringement of the
principle of subsidiarity by a legislative act, by Member States, or
notified by them in accordance with their legal order on behalf of
their NP or a chamber thereof.
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
5. Interparliamentary cooperation
o COSAC meetings (may submit any contribution to the EP, the Council
and the Commission);
o interparliamentary cooperation among NP and between NP and the EP
(i.e. joint meetings and IPEX);
o exchange of information and best practice between NP (i.e. Permanent
Representative’s network in Brussels);
o EAC and special committees relationship;
o interparliamentary conferences on specific topics (i.e. CFSP and CSDP).
Treaty of Lisbon and NP
1. How will we manage all this
information and notification flow?
2. How will NP organise themselves in order to:
a) scrutinise these EU documents in light of the subsidiarity control and
b) reach a final decision (reasoned opinion), within the 8 weeks period?
3. What do we mean by principle of subsidiarity?
4. How will our Parliaments work together
in order to reach the subsidiarity quorum
for a given draft proposal?
5. How are our Parliaments going to communicate with the European
Institutions (inter-institutional understanding)?
COSAC experience
4 subsidiarity checks
lessons learned
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Permanent Representative’s network in Brussels
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
IPEX – Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008
Treaty of Lisbon: entry into force
Ratification
Parliamentary vote
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria – 21/03/08
Cyprus
Denmark
Slovakia
Slovenia – 29/01/08
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France – 08/02/08
Greece
Hungary – 17/12/07
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxemburg
Malta – 29/01/08
Netherland
Poland – 01/04/08
Portugal
United Kingdom
Czech Republic
Romania – 04/02/08
Sweden
Referendum
Ireland
As of 4 April 2008
Assembleia da República | 4 Abril 2008 / mtp