Dear SMN partners,

The European Commission has recently received the first ‘yellow card’ from national Parliaments since the introduction of this new procedure in the Lisbon Treaty. National Parliaments have expressed subsidiarity-related concerns regarding the Commission's Proposal for a Council regulation on the exercise of the right to take collective action within the context of the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services, COM (2012) 130 ("Monti II-Regulation").

On 30 May, the College of Commissioners confirmed that the reasoned opinions received from 12 national parliaments/chambers reached the threshold needed for the "yellow card" to be raised. Under Protocol No 2 on the application of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles, this means that the Commission is now obliged to review its proposal and to decide whether to maintain, amend or withdraw it, justifying its decision[1].  

Given the importance of this dossier, the Committee of the Regions is currently preparing an opinion on this subject. I have been appointed CoR rapporteur within the ECOS commission for this dossier and in this capacity I have drafted a working document that was discussed at the ECOS meeting on 26 June. I hereby invite you, as members of the Subsidiarity Monitoring Network, to send us your comments and details of the positions adopted by your authority/association regarding this dossier and its implications from a subsidiarity point of view.

In addition, I should like to submit the following questions for your consideration:

1. Would you agree with the line taken in my working document (attached), i.e. that the legal basis of Article 352 TFEU chosen by the European Commission is not appropriate since "the right to strike is an inviolable principle enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the provision governing this specific subject matter, Article 153 (5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, explicitly excludes the right to strike from the scope of EU legislation"?

2.  Although the right to strike is often regarded as a matter of national competence, in your view, which specific aspects are relevant at local and regional level and could justify an interest from local and regional authorities in this subject area?

3. Were you consulted by your national parliament during the elaboration phase of its position/ reasoned opinion, when relevant? 

4. In your opinion, does the use of Article 352 TFEU in itself entail a risk as far as respect of the subsidiarity principle is concerned? Do you believe that this provision should be revised/amended in the future?

5. What lessons should be drawn for the future from the first "yellow card"?

6. What added value do you see in such a regulation in light of ECJ decisions on the matter?

In order to be able to use your input in the preparation of the draft opinion and possibly introduce amendments based thereon, I should be very grateful if you could send us your comments and/or answers to my questions before 5th September.

Yours faithfully,

Alain Hutchinson

CoR Member, Member of the Brussels-Region Parliament