Tag: national parliaments

The European Parliament must think long-term and take bold decisions to incorporate ‘change’ in its organisational culture, said its Secretary-General Klaus Welle, in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

EU leaders are too focused on the short term of upcoming elections and lack a strategic vision to give new impetus to European integration and better connect with citizens, said Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in an interview with EurActiv.

Following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which grants EU parliaments a bigger say in Brussels policymaking, MEPs are set to intensify work with national assemblies' committees, said European Parliament Vice-President Silvana Koch-Mehrin in an interview with EurActiv.

Taking their cue from the Lisbon Treaty, Irish MPs this month called for new scrutiny powers compelling the Dublin government to take their views into account before agreeing to new EU legislation.

While EU finance ministers squabble over European Commission demands that national governments must send their budgets to the EU executive for review before they are sent to national parliaments, MEPs and experts have drawn up strategic proposals to create the momentum for a political debate on the EU budget.

National parliaments have come to play an increasingly important role in the functioning of the EU, cooperating with the European Commission and the European Parliament as well as with each other. The Lisbon Treaty further strengthens their influence on EU decision-making.

"The formal involvement of national Parliaments in EU political choices is one of the main keys to the success of the Lisbon Treaty," writes French MEP Alain Lamassoure of the centre-right European People's Party in an October editorial, proposing a number of measures for implementation in early 2010.

Speakers of national parliaments from across the 27-member bloc have echoed an EU summit decision last week to carry on with the Lisbon Treaty ratification process and give the chance to all countries to express their views. EurActiv spoke to Bernard Accoyer, the president of the French 'Assemblée Nationale'.

The Austrian Presidency has organised a conference to discuss how the EU can be brought closer to its citizens and what contributions regions, local authorities and national parliaments can make.

The 105-member Convention on the future of the Europe will debate the Union's finances on the second day of its plenary session on 4 April.

The Greek Presidency of the EU is examining the possibility of organising a special summit in June to discuss the institutional reform.

The Convention President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has revealed new draft articles of the future Constitutional Treaty, dealing with the EU's finances.

Growing rift among the European governments over the Iraq crisis has contributed to a delay in the drafting of the EU constitution. The Convention President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing stated at the plenary session on 17 March that it might not be possible to present a draft to the European Council in Thessaloniki on 20-21 June 2003.

European Convention President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has announced that he would present an outline of a future EU Constitutional Treaty to the Convention at its plenary session on 28 and 29 October.

National parliaments should have more say in EU lawmaking, according to the conclusions of the European Convention's Working Group on the Principle of Subsidiarity, adopted on 19 September.

In its contribution to the Convention debate on the future of the EU, COSAC (Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees) has demanded a bigger role for the national parliaments in EU politics. COSAC wants to be reformed into a Forum of Parliaments, which will represent the national parliaments in EU policy-making.