Böcker i Parliamentary Democracy in Europe-serien

Did the Lisbon Treaty represent a turning point in national parliaments' roles within the European Union (EU)? 10 years after its entry into force, and after the EU has undergone significant changes, this book is the first lengthy publication that comprehensively assesses where national parliaments stand, both in a national and in a European perspective. To this end, it demonstrates how national parliaments increasingly interact with a growing number of EU institutions, and with their counterparts, and what functions these relationships fulfil. It also considers to what extent national parliaments have become 'Europeanised national institutions' actively involved in EU affairs on a domestic level, primarily on the basis of an analysis of the national parliaments of the largest EU Member States - France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain. Despite Brexit, the British Parliament too is examined where appropriate owing to its long-standing status as frontrunner in national parliaments' involvement in EU affairs. The book concludes that national parliaments have undoubtedly ceased to be absent from this field, as they have become much more actively engaged. Yet, some improvements remain necessary to ensure adequate levels of transparency, efficiency and sustainability, as well as to guarantee that engaging in EU affairs is attractive to national parliamentarians.

"The Lisbon Treaty states that national Parliaments shall contribute to a better functioning of the EU. Can they really do it and therefore enrich the European democracy? How far can they extend their original sovereignty without distorting political responsibilities that should be geared upon the European Parliament? The authors analyze the experience of the Italian Parliament under the light of these crucial questions and their exhaustive answers are greatly helpful to the readers of all over Europe."Giuliano Amato, Judge of the Italian Constitutional Court.This important new collection explores the role of the Italian Parliament in the Euro-national parliamentary system as an example of an increased role for national parliaments within the composite European constitutional order. It illustrates how parliamentary interactions within the European Union are highly systematic, with integrated procedures and mutual interdependence between the various institutions and stakeholders. The book argues that this dynamic is vital for both the functioning and the future equilibrium of democracy in the EU. This is significant, particularly given the challenges posed to democracy within the EU institutions and the Member States. Notwithstanding its peculiarities (a symmetrical bicameral system in which both Houses are directly elected, hold the same powers and are linked through a confidence relationship with the government), the Italian Parliament deserves specific attention as a lively active player of the European polity. The grid for its analysis proposed by this collection may also be applied to other national parliaments, so contributing to the development of comparative research in this field.

This book revisits the Treaty of Lisbon's promise to further parliamentarize the EU's functioning by looking into the Treaty-law framework governing the delegation of legislative power in the EU. In this field, the Lisbon Treaty formally greatly strengthened the position of the European Parliament vis-à-vis both the European Commission and the Council. The book explores whether Parliament's formally reinforced role is reflected in the actual balance of powers in the area of delegated legislation and executive rule-making. It does so by assessing how both the law and practice of decision-making at the legislative level, looking at specific case studies, and the sub-legislative level, examining the scrutiny over delegated legislation, has crystallized in the ten years following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. This rigorous study gives a fascinating insight into one of the most significant developments in European parliamentary law-making, which EU constitutional lawyers will find required reading.