From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The national parliaments of the European Union
are those legislatures responsible for each member
state of the European Union (EU). They have a certain
degree of institutionalised influence which was expanded under the
Treaty of
Lisbon to include greater ability to scrutinise proposed EU law.
Relations
In 1989, members of Parliament (MPs) from
national parliaments and the European Parliament (EP)
established the Conference of European Community Affairs Committees
(COSAC) which continues to meet every six months. COSAC has now
gained the right to submit contributions and examine proposals on
EU law relating to Justice
and Home Affairs.[1]
Aside from COSAC, relations between the EP and national
parliaments are dealt with by the Conference
of Presidents. The EP seeks to keep national parliament's fully
informed of the EPs activities and some EP committees
regularly invites national MPs to discuss proposals.[2]
Treaty
background
Because the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 expanded
the EU's competencies into areas of justice
and home affairs, the treaty outlined the importance of
exchanges between the European parliament and its national
counterparts in a declaration attached to the treaty. This
declaration asked national governments to ensure proposals for EU
law were passed on to national parliaments with sufficient time for
them to be scrutinised by MP and that contacts between these MPs
and MEPs, began with COSAC, be stepped up.[1]
This was strengthen under the Treaty of
Amsterdam in a protocol stating all European
Commission consultation documents be promptly forwarded to
national parliaments. They then have a six week period to discuss
legislative proposals, starting from the publication of the
proposal to it appearing on the agenda of the Council of the European
Union.[1]
The Treaty
of Lisbon, in force from 1 December 2009, expanded the role of
national parliaments.[3]
It sets out a right to information (TEU Article 8[4],
TEC Articles 61 C and 308:2[5]
and Protocol 1[6]),
monitoring of subsidiarity - see below - (TEC Article 61
B[5]),
scrutinising policy in freedom, justice and security with
the ability for a national parliament to veto a proposal (TEC
Articles 65:3, 68 and 69), taking part in treaty amendment (TEU
Article 48[4]),
being involved with enlargement and
generally being involved in dialogue with EU institutions (TEU
Article 8[4]).
(Further, see the Protocol on the role of National Parliaments in
the European Union[6])
Their power to enforce the principle of subsidiarity is of
particular note. The principle is that, unless EU institutions have
exclusive power, action will only be taken at a European level if
it were to be more effective than acting at a national level. If a
national parliament believes this principle has been broken, then
this triggers a two stage procedure: if one third of national
parliaments agree that a proposal breaks the principle, then the
Commission has to withdraw, amend or maintain it. If the Commission
maintains its proposal and a majority of parliaments continue to
object, then the Commission will have to explain its reasons.
However it may still continue, as this power does not challenge the
legislative role of the Council and European Parliament.[3]
Differences
There are a number of differences between the national
parliaments of member states, owing to the various historical
development of each country. 14 states have unicameral
parliaments, with the remainders choosing bicameral systems.
Unicameral or lower houses are always directly elected, whereas an upper
house may be directly elected (e.g. the Senate of Poland); or have a more limited
electorate, such as a higher voting as (e.g. the Italian Senate);
or indirectly elected, for example, by
regional legislatures (e.g. the Federal Council of Austria); or non-elected, but
representing certain interest groups (e.g. the National Council of Slovenia); or non-elected
(though by and large appointed by elected officials) as a remnant
of a non-democratic political system in earlier times (as in the House of Lords in
the United
Kingdom).
Furthermore, most states are Parliamentary democracies, hence
the executive is drawn from the Parliament.
However in some cases a more presidential system is followed and
hence there are separate elections for the head of
government and the Parliament, leading to greater
discontinuity, yet more independence, between the two branches of government. However only Cyprus follows a fully
presidential system, with France following a semi-presidential system.
List
- I^ : Due to
Belgium's complex federal structure the Brussels Regional Parliament (Brussels
Hoofdstedelijk Parlement / Parlement de la Région de
Bruxelles-Capitale / Brüsseler
Regionalparlament)[51][52] (89,
regional assembly), Flemish Parliament (Vlaams
Parlement)[53] (124,
regional and community assembly), the Walloon Parliament (Parlement
wallon)[54][55] (75,
regional assembly), the Parliament of the French
Community (Parlement de la Communauté française)[56] (94,
community assembly) and the Parliament of
the German-speaking Community (Parlament der Deutschsprachigen
Gemeinschaft)[57] (25,
community assembly) have competences in federal legislation that
affects their interests.
- II^ : In
addition to the 71 elected senators, the ruling monarch's children
(or, in case there are none, her or his siblings) are also entitled
to sit in the Senate after reaching the age of 18 and entitled to
vote after reaching the age of 21 as senators by law (senator van rechtswege / sénateur de droit / Senator von Rechts wegen),
although they do not use the right to vote by constitutional
convention. There are currently three such senators.
- III^ : The
number of Senators will gradually increase to 348 with the 2011
Senate election to reflect changes in French demography.
- IV^ : In
legislation which affects the autonomous province of the Åland Islands,
its Parliament (Lagting)[58] (30)
also has legislative competences.
- V^ :
While there is a Federal
Assembly (Bundesversammlung) similar to the
Austrian Federal Assembly, it is not
simply a joint session of the Federal Diet and the Federal
Council and as such not the overall name of the
legislature.
- VI^ :
Technically, the Federal Diet only has 598 members; the additional
twenty-four seats are overhang seats resulting from the 2009 election.
- VII^ : The
Irish names are used in the English-language version of the Constitution of Ireland,[59]
and generally in English-language speech and writing in
Ireland.[60][61][62] The
English glosses given are the descriptions in the Constitution.[59]
- VIII^ : In
addition to the 315 elected members, there are currently seven senators for
life (senatore a
vita); these include three former Italian Presidents,
who are ex officio
senators for life, as well as four senators appointed by the
President "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social,
scientific, artistic or literary field". There can only be five
appointed senators in addition to the ex officio ones at any one time.
- IX^ : Technically,
the House of Representatives only has 65 members; the additional
four seats are overhang seats to ensure a majority of MPs for the
party which gained the most votes in the 2008 election.
- X^ : The name
Zgromadzenie Narodowe is only used on the rare occasions
when both houses sit together.
- XI^ : In
legislation which affects the overseas territory of Gibraltar, its Parliament[63] (17)
also has legislative competences.
See also
References
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