In person icon National Parliaments in the EU

Abstract

Understanding political representation by national parliaments is central to the debate on democracy in the EU. Even though they have been identified as one of the main losers from European integration, national parliaments remain the main actors for democratic legitimacy generation in European democracies. The Euro-crisis has brought back with force the issue of democratic self-legislation in European states. Also, the Lisbon Treaty for the first time affirms the positive role that national parliaments should play in the EU and introduced the Early Warning Mechanism (EWM) as a means for Parliaments to be involved in European governance. The related provisions mark a shift in the understanding of democracy in the EU. They continue a trend going back to the Maastricht Treaty and the debate on the EU’s democratic deficit that have seen the empowerment of NPs in EU affairs as one possible mechanism for tackling this issue. Contributions to this panel will explore, either theoretically or empirically, whether national parliaments are capable of living up to the normative and institutional role assigned to them in the Lisbon Treaty, i.e. whether they can exercise their traditional functions – control and communication – in a satisfying manner when it comes to EU policy-making, not least, but not exclusively, via the newly introduced mechanisms.

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