Overview of the study presented by Gracia Vara Arribas, one of the author for EIPA of the study, during the 5th Subsidiarity Conference held in Bilbao on 21 March
This presentation does not represent the official views of the Committee of the Regions
The study was commissioned by the CoR and includes data until 2009. Ms Vara Arribas specified first the aim of this study, i.e. to provide background information for regional parliaments and the SMN on the enforcement of the EWS in each Member State with regions that possess legislative powers.
The starting point of the whole study was Article 6 of the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality of the Lisbon Treaty.
Four questions were in the main interest of the researchers
- How is this article implemented in practice?
- What are the challenges of regional parliaments in participating in the EWS?
- What can be the role of regional parliaments in the EWS?
- How can the SMN optimise its work vis-à-vis its members?
According to Ms Vara Arribas during the course of research three major challenges became visible:
- the creation of a subsidiarity culture amongst the regional parliaments with legislative power;
- the ability to be selective in their choices for EU draft legislative proposals;
- the ability to act in due time within the eight-week time limit.
Ms Vara Arribas presented examples of best practice. She reported that some regional parliaments already performed organisational, legal and procedural adaptations to fulfil their new duties. However, according to her analysis, a clear structure regarding the cooperation mechanisms with national parliaments and other regional parliaments was in most cases still missing. She recommended a more structured and institutionalised cooperation between these partners.
Hereafter she reported about the perception of the EWS at national and regional levels. In general the EWS was received positively by the parliaments as it was perceived to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the EU and to help safeguarding transparency and efficiency in EU lawmaking. Nonetheless parliaments expect the EWS not to be used very much, due to the short time limit, the great workload it brings about and the rather limited scope of real power the EWS gives to the parliaments. Thus the novelty of the EWS is discussed amongst national and regional parliaments. Regional parliaments see their contributions limited by numerous impeding conditions, such as the discretion of national parliaments to involve or not their regional counterpart in the EWS. She concluded that, due to these circumstances and the Commission's right to not change a proposal, regional assemblies could be discouraged from contributing to the EWS. On the other hand, she underlined that the EWS and the participation of regional assemblies should not be underestimated, as it could stimulate new fruitful subsidiarity discussions at regional level.
Article 6
Any national Parliament or any chamber of a national Parliament may, within eight weeks from the date of transmission of a draft legislative act, in the official languages of the Union, send to the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission a reasoned opinion stating why it considers that the draft in question does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity. It will be for each national Parliament or each chamber of a national Parliament to consult, where appropriate, regional parliaments with legislative powers. |
As another central concern Ms Vara Arribas presented the main findings on the CoR's SMN. She stated that the number of members of the SMN has constantly grown since 2007 to a total number of 126 partners in February 2011. Hereafter she summarised the objectives of the SMN (awareness-raising of subsidiarity and proportionality principles, enabling LRAs to play a role in SM, identifying measures for better lawmaking). Coming to the consultation process she explained that the SMN was designed to provide expertise to the work of the CoR rapporteurs and commissions. She detailed the fact that there was a greater awareness of the SMN on the regional than on the national level. The main expectations brought forward to the SMN were identified by the study as receiving subsidarity analysis sufficiently in advance, as well as support, information and advice from the SMN during the preparation of subsidarity analysis within the EWS. Ms Vara Arribas informed the audience that the SMN was about to launch a new consultations in 2011, that is to say the Early Warning Consultations.
Amongst others the following potentials of the SMN were identified: facilitating cooperation between regional parliaments, making visible instruments available to regional partners and organisation of training sessions, meetings etc.
On the basis of this research the following recommendations to the SMN were made: to create a special platform dedicated to the regional parliaments with legislative powers, to prioritise the consultation process and to communicate more and better on the SMN activities towards Parliaments and EU institutions.
Finally Ms Vara Arribas briefly tried to answer one of the initially posed questions: "What can be the role of regional Parliaments within the context of the EWS put in place by the Lisbon Treaty"? First she identified the EWS as an important tool serving different purposes such as the implementation of the smart regulation strategy, the possibility for regional parliaments to give their opinions on subsidiarity compliance and most importantly the opportunity to initiate European debates in the regional and local arena with an echo effect among the regional and local population. Secondly she recognised that the EWS can bring subsidiarity into the consciousness of regional parliaments, which would pose a huge challenge to regional parliaments in matters of internal organisation, selection of EU draft legislation and time management.
