So far, the Treaty on European Union mainly focuses on the control function of NPs in EU policy-making whilst the representation and communication function receive little attention. Accordingly, research has also until most recently concentrated almost exclusively on the control function whilst scholars have neglected the link between parliaments and citizens and the ways in which parliaments represent citizens in EU affairs. This paper argues that more attention needs to be paid to the representation function of NPs, and the ways this justifies and informs a broader as well as the narrow sense of control. Understood in a narrow way, we need to ensure that control is representative. Understood in a broader way, representation is necessary for reasonable disagreement in democratic politics, of which parliaments are the central arena. Representation and control are complementary functions, with the one providing the basis for, and extending beyond, the other.
