PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union
PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union
PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY - Inter-Parliamentary Union
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An effective parliament (II): Parliament’s involvement in international affairs I 169<br />
How this cooperation is ensured varies considerably among the <strong>Union</strong>’s<br />
Members. Many parliaments address this through the mechanism of a<br />
European Affairs Committee, which is entitled to receive all relevant EU<br />
documents in advance of negotiating positions to be taken by ministers in the<br />
Council of Ministers. Yet the Polish Senate notes that “most national<br />
legislatures are not granted the competency to formulate their position in an<br />
imperative manner that would bind the national government”. This conclusion<br />
perhaps understates the extent of parliamentary influence that is exercised in<br />
practice, as a number of our submissions show. So, for example, the submission<br />
from the German Parliament states that “the Federal Government must<br />
provide the Bundestag with an opportunity to state its position, which it must<br />
take as the basis of its negotiating position in the Council”. And here is the<br />
procedure adopted by the European Affairs Committee (EAC) of the Danish<br />
Parliament in its weekly meetings:<br />
The most important items on the agenda of the European Affairs<br />
Committee are the meetings to be held by the Council of Ministers the<br />
following week. Discussion of a specific Council meeting by the<br />
European Affairs Committee usually involves the minister in question<br />
attending a meeting and making an oral presentation on the mandate<br />
for negotiation. Then there follows a round in which the party<br />
spokespersons put questions to the minister and make known the<br />
party’s response to some of the proposals. Once the minister has<br />
replied there may be one or more rounds of discussions, during which<br />
the minister can clarify or modify his mandate for negotiation. The<br />
minister may also change the mandate for negotiation in deference to<br />
the party spokespersons and in order to ensure that a majority is not<br />
against it……<br />
The Committee does not reject the government’s mandate very often.<br />
But this does not mean that the Committee does not have much influence<br />
on the government’s EU policy. Firstly, it is not uncommon for the<br />
government to change or modify its original mandate for negotiation<br />
during the discussions of the Committee. Secondly, the Danish civil<br />
servants who take part in the negotiations at an early stage – frequently<br />
before the European Commission makes its proposal – allow for the<br />
fact that the government will have to have the result approved by the<br />
European Affairs Committee at some stage.<br />
The Danish submission notes that an important factor in the exercise of<br />
parliamentary influence is early notice of the European Commission’s proposals<br />
to the Council of Ministers, and of the government’s attitude towards them.