The formal involvement of the national parliaments in the political decisions of the European Union is one of the main keys to the success of the Lisbon Treaty.
It increases the powers that the EU shares with the Member States, while extending the legislative power of the European Parliament to cover all legal instruments and Community budget expenditure. This means that an increasing number of political decisions will be taken in Brussels and that the European Parliament will have greater involvement in the decision-making process, while the national parliaments will continue to play a vital role in mobilising the budgetary resources and any additional – and sometimes essential – legal means that are necessary for the success of a joint European measure. Take the example of the ‘Lisbon Strategy’ which aimed to make the European Union the most competitive economy in the world in just 10 years: it failed mainly because of the persistent disconnection between the European political debate, which defined the objective, and the debate in the Member States, on which 80% of the resources depended.
Lire la suite…