Report from the Commission. Annual report 2014 on relations between the European Commission and national parliaments

2014 was a year of institutional transition, marked by the election of a new European Parliament in May and the arrival of the new Commission headed by President Jean-Claude Juncker. The new Commission announced its intention to forge a new partnership with national Parliaments and stressed that the Commissioners would visit national Parliaments more often to present and debate Commission initiatives.

Institutional issues were also on the agenda in 2014 as several parliamentary chambers called for an in-depth debate on the future role of national Parliaments in the interinstitutional framework. Between January and May, the Danish Folketing, the UK House of Lords and the Dutch Tweede Kamer submitted reports with detailed proposals on how to strengthen the role of national Parliaments in the European decision-making process. Discussions are continuing between national Parliaments on these topics.

Meanwhile, relations between the Commission and national Parliaments continued to develop along the two traditional channels: the subsidiarity control mechanism introduced by the Lisbon Treaty to assess whether new legislative proposals in areas of shared competence between the EU and the Member States comply with the principle of subsidiarity; and the political dialogue launched by the Commission in 2006 to exchange information and opinions on policy issues, and on legislative as well as non-legislative initiatives.

This tenth annual report on relations between the Commission and national Parliaments deals with the political dialogue. Specific aspects relating to the subsidiarity control mechanism are dealt with in the Annual report 2014 on subsidiarity and proportionality, which is published in parallel and should be seen as complementary to this report.