The U.S. Congress and the European Parliament: Evolving Transatlantic Legislative Cooperation

The Congressional Research Service, a department of the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of national and international policy issues. Some of the CRS work is carried out specifically for individual members of Congress or their staff and is confidential. However, there is also much CRS compiled material which is considered public but is not formally published on the CRS website.

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In some cases hyperlinks allows you to access all versions of a report, including the latest. Note that many reports are periodically updated.The United States and the European Union (EU) share an extensive, dynamic, and for many a mutually beneficial political and economic partnership. A growing element of that relationship is the role that the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament (EP)—a key EU institution—have begun to play, including in areas ranging from foreign and economic policy to regulatory reform.

Consequently, some officials and experts on both sides of the Atlantic believe that it would be beneficial for Congress and the EP to strengthen institutional ties further and to explore the possibility of coordinating efforts to develop more complementary policies in some areas.

The Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue (TLD), the formal exchange between Congress (actually the House of Representatives) and the European Parliament, was launched in 1999, although semi-annual meetings between the Congress and the EP date back to 1972. Recently, the TLD’s visibility has increased following the 2007 decision to name it as an advisor to the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), which seeks to ‘advance the work of reducing or eliminating non-tariff barriers to transatlantic commerce and trade.’ Proponents of establishing closer relations between the U.S. Congress and the EP also point to the Parliament’s growing influence as a result of the EU’s new Lisbon Treaty, which took effect in December 2009. The Lisbon Treaty has increased the relative power of the EP within the EU, and in some cases, with significant implications for U.S. interests—as seen by the EP’s initial rejection in February 2010 of the U.S.-EU terrorist finance tracking agreement (known as the SWIFT accord).

Over the last few years, in part because of the TLD’s new TEC-related responsibilities, contacts between the Congress and the Parliament have increased in frequency, including at the committee level. However, many observers note that the EP has been far out in front of the Congress in pursuit of a stronger relationship. In 2010, the Parliament opened a liaison office in Washington, charged with keeping the EP better informed of legislative activity in the Congress and vice versa. In addition, each EP standing committee has named a ‘TLD Administrator’ on its staff to act as a contact point between the committee and the TLD, as well as between the committee and its counterpart committee in the U.S. Congress.

While there appears to be no formal opposition within Congress to increasing contacts with the European Parliament or exploring ways to enhance the TLD, some observers point out that with the exception of those Members involved in the TLD, Congress as a whole seems to be at best ambivalent to such efforts and has not demonstrated as much enthusiasm as the EP about forging closer relations. And given the structural and procedural differences between the Congress and the EP, some experts doubt whether the two bodies could effectively work together on legislative issues.

On the other hand, some Members of Congress have begun to consider whether there is a need for more cooperation with the EP, and have raised questions with respect to how this might best be accomplished. For such Members and outside advocates of closer relations, questions have also surfaced about how transatlantic legislative cooperation might effectively be increased, including whether the TLD itself should be reorganized, how the standing committees in both the Congress and the EP might be involved, and what role, if any, for the U.S. Senate.

This report provides background on the Congress-EP relationship and the role of the TLD. It also explores potential future options should an effort to strengthen ties between the two bodies gain momentum. For additional information, see CRS Report RS21998, The European Parliament, and CRS Report RL34735, Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation: A Possible Role for Congress.

EveryCRSReport.com https://www.everycrsreport.com/

Federation of American Scientists (FAS): Congressional Research Service [CRS] Reports https://fas.org/sgp/crs/index.html

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