Introduction: National Parliaments and the European CHAPTER 1 Union; In Search of Common Ground Olaf Tans --
1. Introduction --
2. A Bottom-up Approach to European Constitutionalism Research-design --
3 Conceptualising 'National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making' --
3.1 A Threefold Analysis of National Constitutional Regimes I Constitutional Norms Regarding National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making --
II The Relevance of Practices and Habits --
III Widening the Scope to the Political System and Culture a Large --
4. Conclusion --
Appendix: Questionnaire --
The Finnish Eduskunta: Effective Scrutiny, Partisan CHAPTER 2 Consensus Tapio Raunio --
1. Introduction --
2. Background: Constitutional Reform and Preparing for EU- Membership--
3. Controlling the Government in EU Matters --
3.1 Accountability and Control Instruments --
3.2 Scrutiny of EU Matters --
3.4 Partisan Consensus --
3.4 Attitudes towards Interparliamentary Cooperation --
4. The Eduskunta and the Constitutional Treaty --
5 Conclusion --
4 Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making in Germany; Supportive Federal Scrutiny and Restrictive CHAPTER 3 Regional Action Daniel Thym --
1. Introduction --
2 Constitutional Framework --
3. Normative Framework --
4. Information: Irrelevance through Overload? --
4.1 Normative Concept --
4.2 Practice and Problems --
4.3 The Way Ahead --
5. Bundestag: Supportive Scrutiny --
5.1 Practice and Problems
5.2 Normative Concept --
5.3 Way Ahead --
6 Bundesrat: Preserving Federalism --
6.1 Normative Concept --
6.2 Practice and Problems --
6.3 Way Ahead --
7. Conclusion --
EU Affairs before the United Kingdom Parliament; A CHAPTER 4 Case of Scrutiny as Substitute Sovereignty? Adam Cygan --
1. Introduction --
2 The Legal, Political and Constitutional Context of Scrutiny --
3 Brief History of Parliamentary Scrutiny in the United Kingdom --
4. The Heterogeneity of National Scrutiny Procedures --
5. Scrutiny of European Union Legislation by the Westminster Parliament --
6 The House of Commons - European Scrutiny Committee --
7 The House of Lords - Select Committee on the Union and its Sub-Committees European --
8 Impact of the Scrutiny Process within the UK Parliament --
9 Scrutiny as Substitute Sovereignty? --
ΙΟ Future Reform of the UK Scrutiny Process --
Belgian Parliaments and EU Decision-making: "In the CHAPTER 5 Government We Trust" Hendrik Vos, Sofie Staelraeve, Carl Devos, Jan Orbie, Hilde Van Liefferinge, An Schrijvers --
1. Introduction --
2 How Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making is Organised in Belgium --
2.1 A Uniquely Composed Federal Advisory Committee --
2.2 The Functioning of the Federal Advisory Committee --
2.3 The Standing Committees and European affairs --
2.4 The Flow of Information
2.5 Control of EU Decision-making by the Federal Parliament - an Evaluation --
2.6 The European Role of Regions and Communities --
2.7 Regional Parliaments and EU Decision-making: The Case of Flanders --
3 Why Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making in Belgium is Weak --
3.1 Normative Signs of a Powerful Parliament --
3.2 Belgium: "The Most Thorough Example of Consociational Democracy" --
3.3 Belgium: An Ever Further Federalizing State --
4. Conclusion --
Control of EU Decision-making in the Hungarian CHAPTER 6 National Assembly: the Experience of a new Member State Klara Szalay and Angela Juhasz-Tóth --
1. Introduction --
2 Norms and Powers Regulating National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making --
3 Scrutiny of EU Affairs in the National Assembly --
3.1 Scope of Information 3.2 Process of Discussion --
3.3 Parliamentary Influence --
3.4 Other Forms of Parliamentary Control --
4. Dilemmas Relating to the Practice of Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making --
5 Widening the Perspective --
6 Conclusion --
The Parliament of Austria: A "Normative" Tiger? CHAPTER 7 Barbara Blümel and Christine Neuhold --
1 Introduction --
2 Norms Regulating the Flow of Information about EU --Decision-making (with a Link to the Respective Provisions U in the Constitutional Treaty) --
3 Norms Regulating National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making and Institutional Setting of Parliamentary Scrutiny --
3.1 Legal Provisions Regulating Parliamentary Participation --
3.2 The Institutional Setting of Parliamentary Scrutiny --
4. Evaluation of Parliamentary Scrutiny in EU Affairs --
4.1 The Scope of Parliamentary Scrutiny --
4.1.1 The Number of Documents Submitted to the Austrian Parliament --
4.1.2 The Number of EC/EU Documents Actually Considered by Parliament --
4.2 The Political Implications of Parliamentary Scrutiny --
5. Discussion --
6 Concluding Remarks --
The Dutch Parliament and the EU; A Constitutional CHAPTER 8 Analysis Olaf Tans --
1 Introduction --
2. Some General Constitutional Features --
3 Controlling Power --
3.I Constitutional Norms Governing the Flow of Information about EU Decision-making --
3.2 Constitutional Norms Governing the Power to Influence EU Decision-making --
4. Practices and Habits Affecting Parliamentary Controlling 4 Power --
4.I General Procedures to Control EU Decision-making --
4.2 The Approval-procedure concerning Decision-making in the Third Pillar --
4.3 The Joint Committee on the Application of Subsidiarity --
5 Complications of the Dutch Scrutiny-system --
5.1 The Fiction of Ministerial Responsibility --
5.2 Low Level of Parliamentary Involvement --
5.3 The Non-political Nature of Parliamentary Scrutiny --
6 Conclusion --
National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making in Denmark APTER 9 Peter Riis --
1. Introduction: Denmark's Hesitant Approach to the EU --
2. Constitutional Background of the Danish Scrutiny System --
2.1 The Danish Parliamentary System --
2.2 The Danish Constitution on Foreign Policy, Referendums and Transfer of Sovereignty --
2.3 The Legal Basis of the Mandate System --
3 The Danish Decision-making Process with regard to European Affairs --
3.1 The National Decision-making Process - In Brief --
3.2 How does the Government obtain a Mandate for Negotiation --
3.4 Referendums on EU-matters - Direct Democracy in Practice --
4. The Parliament's Treatment of EU-issues --
4.1 Early Treatment of EU-issues in the EAC and in the Sector Committees --
4.2 The Subsidiarity Check --
4.3 Systematic Treatment of Green and White Papers --
4.4 Openness in the European Affairs Committee --
4.5 Cooperation with Members of the European Parliament --
5. Conclusion and Future Perspectives --
Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-making in the CHAPTER IO Czech Republic Lenka Pítrová and Martina Coxová --
1. Introduction --
2.The General Idea of the Czech Scrutiny System --
3 Constitutional Norms Governing Parliamentary Control --
3.I The 'Euro-amendment' to the Czech Constitution --
3.2 The 'Euro-amendments' to the Rules of Procedure of Czech Parliament --
3.2.1 The Euro-amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies --
3.2.2 The Euro-amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the Senate --
3.3 The Government Directive on Transmission of Draft European Legislative Proposals to the Parliament --
4. Assessment of the Enacted Amendments --
4 The Chamber of Deputies --
4.1 The Senate --
4.2 Experiences with the New Model of Parliamentary Control --
5 The Chamber of Deputies --
5.1 The Senate --
6 Some Comments on a Future and Better Organisation of National Parliamentary Control of EU Decision-Making --
7. Conclusion --
Conclusion: National Parliaments and the European Union; Coping with the Limits of Democracy Olaf Tans --
1. Introduction --
2 National Constitutions and European Scrutiny: Exploring Common Ground --
2.1 The Pivotal Role of Ministerial Responsibility --
2.2 The Contours of a Common Practice --
2.3 A Common Political Culture? --
2.4 Conclusion --
3. The Future Role of National Parliaments in the EU - Issues for Debate --
3.1 The Limits of Ministerial Responsibility --
3.2 Vices and Virtues of Ex Ante Mechanisms --
3.3 More Direct Involvement of National Parliaments in EU Decision-making? --
3.4 Going Beyond the Input-legitimising Role of National Parliaments --
3.5 A Plea for More Debate in National Parliaments --
4 Conclusion --
Contributors.