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This study examines the framework, instruments, and procedures for national parliamentary control of EU decision-making after the Lisbon Treaty, including the use of reasoned opinions and political dialogue. It analyzes inter-parliamentary cooperation, staff numbers, and the impact on information exchange.
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A more parliamentary EU (?) Evaluating national parliamentary control of EU decision making after the Lisbon Treaty Christine Neuhold Maastricht University Prof Christine Neuhold Maastricht University
What is ahead? • Framework • ‘Insights’ • Instruments and procedures • Use of reasoned opinion and political dialogue • Conditions for the use of the EWM • Concluding remarks
Framework • Insights inter alia based on study commissioned by the TweedeKamer • Plus: project funded under Open Research Area Observatory of Parliaments after Lisbon (OPAL )
1. Instruments and procedures For control over the national government • Different types of instruments: • Information rights • “Mandating” respective Council representation, and follow-up after Council negotiations • “Rapporteurs” or “Europromoters” • Otherparliamentaryinstruments, such as question time • Keydifferencesbetweenparliaments: • Timing • “Mainstreaming”
1. Instruments and procedures For direct involvement at the European level • Different national procedures for reasoned opinions: • Role of the sectoral committees • Role of the plenary • Staff support • Political dialogue
2. Use of ‘Lisbon instruments’Number of Reasoned Opinions 2010 – 2014 Auel (et.al) 2015
2. Number of Political Dialogue Opinions 2010-2014 Source: OPAL data-sets, Auel et.al. 2015. Portuguese Assembleia (824 opinions) omitted for reasons of legibility
3. Conditions for the use of the EWM At the European level • Inter-parliamentary cooperation • Role(s) of the liaisons • IPEX • COSAC • Cooperation with EU institutions • European Commission: earlyinvolvementof nationalparliaments • European Parliament: trend towards more inter-parliamentary meetings on specifictopics/areas, such as CFSP (Gattermann and Hefftler 2015)
3. Conditionsfor the use of the EWM At the national level • Very country-specific • A mix of: • ‘Role perception’ • ‘Cost-benefit analysis’ • Political salience • MP who plays role of a ‘pusher’ • Administrative capacity • Role and number of staff Mastenbroek et.al. 2015
3. Staff numbers in parliaments Hoegenauer and Christiansen (2015)
Conclusion/effects • Effects: • More inter-parliamentary cooperation and coordination • More information exchange betweenparliaments • Increasedrole of staff • Use of a ‘multi-parliamentary field’ (Crum and Fossum 2009) butwithgreatvariationacrossNPs