Analysis and reflections: The early-warning system for the principle of subsidiarity: The national parliament as a Conseil d'Etat for Europe

European Law Review

Volumn 36, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 98-108

  Kiiver, Philipp ^a  

^a MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 80053016588     PISSN: 03075400     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (29)

1. J. H. H. Weiler, The Constitution of Europe: "Do the New Clothes Have an Emperor?" and Other Essays on European Integration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 354.
2. O. Tans et al. (eds), National Parliaments and European Democracy; A Bottom-up Approach to European Constitutionalism (Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, 2007);
3. see also K. Auel and A. Benz (eds), The Europeanisation of Parliamentary Democracy (London: Routledge, 2006)
4. and the still-influential volume A. Maurer and W. Wessels (eds), National Parliaments on their Ways to Europe: Losers or Latecomers? (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001).
5. See T. Raunio, "National Legislatures in the EU Constitutional Treaty" in J. O'Brennan and T. Raunio (eds), National Parliaments within the Enlarged European Union: From "Victims" of Integration to Competitive Actors? (London: Routledge, 2007);
6. W. Sleath, "The Role of National Parliaments in European Affairs" in G. Amato, H. Bribosia and B. De Witte (eds), Genèse et destinée de la Constitution européenne (Brussels: Bruylant, 2007);
7. see also S. Hölscheidt, "Formale Aufwertung - geringe Schubkraft: die Rolle der nationalen Parlamente gemäβ dem Lissabonner Vertrag" (2008) 31 integration 254.
8. P. Kiiver, The National Parliaments in the European Union - A Critical View on EU Constitution-Building (Den Haag: Kluwer Law International, 2006), p. 161.
9. P. Kiiver, "The Treaty of Lisbon, the National Parliaments and the Principle of Subsidiarity" (2008) 15 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 77.
10. G. J. Veerman, Over wetgeving: principes, paradoxen en praktische beschouwingen (Den Haag: Sdu, 2007), p. 75.
11. See COM (2008) 428. The Commission is uploading incoming letters and its own replies to national parliaments at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat- general/relations/relations-other/npo/index-en. htm [Accessed December 13, 2010].
12. This the councils of state indicate themselves in their presentations; see, for the Netherlands, at http://www.raadvanstate.nl/adviezen [Accessed December 13, 2010].
13. At http://www.conseil-etat.public.lu/fr/attributions/index.html [Accessed December 13, 2010].
14. At http://www.raadvst-consetat.be/?page=proc-consult-page4&lang=en [Accessed December 13, 2010].
15. The archive is available online at http://www.ec.europa.eu/dgs/ secretariat-general/relations/relations-other/npo/index-en. htm [Accessed December 13, 2010].
16. Annual Report 2008 on relations between the European Commission and national parliaments, Brussels, July 7, 2009, COM (2009) 343 final, p. 5.
17. See COM (2007) 650.
18. See COM (2008) 414.
19. See COM (2008) 426.
20. See COM (2009) 554.
21. See K. Auel, "Democratic Accountability and National Parliaments: Redefining the Impact of Parliamentary Scrutiny in EU Affairs" (2007) 13 European Law Journal 487.
22. See the Joint Statement of the 6th meeting of the Association of European Senates, Warsaw, May 25, 2004, available at http://www.senateurope.org [Accessed December 13, 2010].
23. See for a comparative overview: S. Patterson and A. Mughan (eds), Senates: Bicameralism in the Contemporary World (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999).
24. COSAC, Report on the Results of the Subsidiarity Check on the Proposal for a Council Directive on Implementing the Principle of Equal Treatment between Persons Irrespective of Religion or Belief, Disability, Age or Sexual Orientation (November 2008), p. 12.
25. This would in some sense comply with the definition of an accountability relationship as formulated by Bovens; see M. Bovens, "Analysing and Assessing Accountability: A Conceptual Framework" (2007) 13 European Law Journal 447.
26. See, e.g. the Commission's replies to national parliamentary reactions to the proposed Equal Treatment Directive COM (2008) 426.
27. Annual Report 2009 on relations between the European Commission and national parliaments, Brussels, 2 June 2010, COM (2010) 291 final, p. 4.
28. Reports on the COSAC subsidiarity checks are available at http://www.cosac.eu/en/info/earlywarning [Accessed December 13, 2010].
29. The possibility of such a turn of events had in fact already been anticipated even at a time when COSAC envisaged making collective subsidiarity checks a regular feature of its work; see M. Knudsen and Y. Carl, "COSAC - Its Role to Date and its Potential in the Future" in G. Barrett (ed.), National Parliaments and the European Union: The Constitutional Challenge for the Oireachtas and Other Member State Legislatures (Dublin: Clarus, 2008).