Subsidiarity, national parliaments and the Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty contains provisions which are intended to 'encourage greater involvement of national parliaments in the activities of the European Union and to enhance their ability to express their views on draft legislative acts .. as well as on other matters which may be of particular interest to them'. This report examined these provisions and reached the following conclusions: that the substance of the subsidiarity Article in the Lisbon Treaty is the same in its effect as the existing Article in the EC Treaty; examination of EU proposals for compliance with the principle of subsidiarity is a long-established and fundamental part of the scrutiny process of the European Scrutiny Committee of the UK House of Commons; whether a proposal does or does not comply is a matter of political judgement and is unlikely to be capable of an entirely objective assessment.

United Kingdom: House of Commons: European Scrutiny Committee: 33rd Report (2007-08)HC 563 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmeuleg/563/563.pdf

---