ANALYSIS OF COMMENTS ON OR PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE DRAFT PROTOCOL ON THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY (CONV 579/02)

I. Summary analysis of amendments by subject

The Praesidium's proposal to the Convention is based on the report from Working Group I (CONV 286/02) and the report on discussions in the plenary (CONV 331/02). On the whole, the Protocol on subsidiarity was well received by Convention members. Few radically questioned the Praesidium draft. In fact, very many Convention members saw no need to comment on or amend the draft Protocol.

The main amendments proposed concern the following six subjects:
(a) the term "national parliament", with an active minority continuing to prefer an arrangement whereby, in States with bicameral parliaments, each of the two chambers should be able to trigger the early-warning system directly. There are a number of amendments along these lines, some of which include an ingenious device to ensure that the preferred arrangement does not place States with unicameral parliaments at a disadvantage (two votes for a unicameral parliament and one vote for each chamber of a bicameral parliament);

(b) the one-third threshold has generally been well received. However, a sizeable number of Convention members want the threshold raised to two thirds, while another group suggest including a second, two-thirds threshold which, if exceeded, would have serious consequences for the continuation of the legislative procedure;

(c) the Conciliation Committee: many Convention members have doubts as to the wisdom of allowing a second opportunity to apply the early-warning system when the Conciliation Committee is convened. They wonder how this arrangement would work in practice, pointing out that the interval between the convening of the Committee and the holding of its meeting is sometimes very short. They suggest that this point should simply be dropped;

(d) the arrangements for actions before the Court of Justice: two separate points are addressed:
- direct referral by national parliaments: many Convention members ask that parliaments should be able to bring actions directly to the Court of Justice;
- how to treat regions with legislative powers: many Convention members suggest that such regions should also be able, directly or indirectly, to refer any infringement of the principle of subsidiarity to the Court of Justice;

(e) some of the provisions concerning the Committee of the Regions are also under debate. Some Convention members, particularly the observers from the Committee of the Regions, would like to see that Committee's subsidiarity watchdog powers extended and aligned on those of national parliaments. Others, fewer in number, query the case for its involvement;

(f) lastly, many Convention members suggest that the annual report by the Commission concerning the application of the principle of subsidiarity should be addressed to national parliaments in the same way as to the European Parliament and the Council.

To see the full analysis, click: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00610-re01en03.pdf.