A long-standing institutional squabble over call-back rights to so-called ‘comitology’ decisions has been reignited by Parliament, which wants to be put on an equal footing with EU ministers on the issue.
A handful of MEPs led by Richard Corbett (UK, PES) are to be selected by the European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee to try and negotiate a right to oversee – and where necessary, call-back – decisions taken by thousands of so-called ‘comitology committees’.
For many years, the Parliament has been fighting to win parity with the EU Council of Ministers on the issue. At the moment, when member state experts disagree with a Commission proposal made in comitology, they have the possibility – under specific circumstances – to refer the issue back to the Council. The Council then decides if it wishes to call back the executive powers it delegated to the Commission and take the decision itself.
The matter was pretty uncontroversial in the 1960s when the Parliament had virtually no power. But as it gradually obtained co-decision power with the Council, it grew increasingly frustrated.
Small improvements were made in 1999 in keeping the Parliament better informed of comitolgoy decisions, but the key improvement was expected to come with the approval of the new EU Constitution.
Now that the Constitution has been shelved for at least two years, the Parliament is embarking on the task of wining full parity with the Council.