Third Chamber through the back-door?

PRESS RELEASE
Brussels/Strasbourg, 13 March 2003

During its meeting on March 13th in Strasbourg the Intergroup "European Constitution" in the European Parliament analysed the political contents of the draft protocols on the role of national Parliaments and the principle of subsidiarity which have been submitted by the presidium of the Convention. The Members of the European Parliament welcomed the fact that with these protocols the access to information by national parliaments about EU legislative proposals and the political strategy of the Union for is greatly improved.

At the same time, many MEPs expressed their worries that the "early warning system" could actually introduce a "3. Chamber" through the back door. They also saw the danger that this system could further complicate rather than simplify the legislative process.

For the first time, national Parliaments would be given the possibility to directly influence the EU legislator (the EP and the Council). Even in the conciliation procedure (according to paragraph 7 of the draft protocol) the European Parliament and the Council are supposed to abide largely by the views expressed by national parliaments. In the event of an opinion supported by 1/3 of the national parliaments, the European Commission will be obliged to reconsider its legislative proposal, which could lead to a halt in the legislative process.

After COSAC has already offered itself to act as a "clearing house" for the early warning system of the national Parliaments, the proposals contained in the draft protocol would encourage the national Parliaments to organise joint opinions in order to reach the threshold of 1/3 of the Parliaments for a formal intervention. In conjunction with the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice, this would be tantamount to a "3. Chamber" being introduced through the back door.

The Intergroup "European Constitution" welcomed the reduction in the number of different means of action of the European Union to six basic instruments (Law, Framework Law, Regulation, Decision, Recommendation and Opinion). This means an important simplification of the decision-making process, provided that there will not bee too many exceptions to this scheme in the area of foreign and security policy, as well as in the area of justice and home affairs (the former pillars 2 and 3), or in the second part of the Constitution. Such exceptions would undermine and dilute the provisions of the first part of the Constitution.

Intergroup Secretariat
Tel. : (32)2/508.30.30 – Fax : (32)2/626.95.01
mailto:european.constitution@skynet.be