National Parliaments in the European Integration Process: finally learning to play the European game’ in the aftermath of the Lisbon Treaty reforms and the EU economic crisis?

When? 6th and 7th of December 2013

Where? European Parliament Offices, Dublin. 43 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

Who? Keynote Speaker: Professor Tapio Raunio (University of Tampere) Other speakers include Ian Cooper (ARENA, Oslo), Gavin Barrett (UCD), Adam Cygan (Leicester) and John O’ Brennan (NUIM).

What? The conference will critically examine the role played by national parliaments within the European integration process. It will do so by bringing together academic experts drawn from across the EU. The conference will highlight both the strengths and weaknesses of national parliaments’ participation in and level of engagement with EU affairs within their own national settings and examine the extent to which the reforms introduced through the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 have improved the capacity of national parliaments to contribute effectively to the EU decision-making process.

The conference has three overall objectives:

 To analyze the impact of the Lisbon Treaty reforms (the Protocol on the Role of National Parliaments in the European Union and the Protocol on the Application of Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality) and in particular the ‘Early Warning System’ under which national parliaments attained the ability to collectively demand of the European Commission a review of legislative proposals the parliamentary bodies consider problematic. It will examine the empirical evidence garnered since enactment of Lisbon in November 2009 to assess how and in what ways national parliaments have sought to employ subsidiarity control within the new system (what Raunio terms the early ‘real-life’ experiences of the mechanism). It will examine which national parliaments and chambers have been most active in instituting subsidiarity control procedures and how ‘reasoned opinions’ sent to the Commission are framed and developed.

Most importantly the participants will seek to identify examples of ‘successful’ subsidiarity control, or policy proposals which present evidence of a real and substantive impact being made by national parliaments.

 To critically assess the impact of the financial and economic crisis on the capacity of national parliaments to contribute effectively to European affairs in their own national settings and at EU level and to evaluate changes in the relationship between executive and legislature associated with the crisis. The crisis has seen some parliaments become more assertive in their relationships with executive actors whilst others have been subdued.

 To evaluate the extent to which national parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe have adapted to accession since 2004 and a comparative experience of national parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe after the 2004, 2007 and 2013 accessions

This is a free event and all are welcome. To register please contact: simona.behling@nuim.ie

Friday, December 6th 2013

15.00 Coffee
15.30 Welcome
Dr. John O’ Brennan (National University of Ireland Maynooth)
15.45 Opening Remarks and welcome
Francis Jacobs, Head, European Parliament Office, Dublin
16.00 Keynote Address
Tapio Raunio (University of Tampere) National Parliaments and European Integration after the Lisbon treaty and enlargement to 28: finally ‘learning to play the European game’
Saturday, December 7th 2013
9.30 National Parliaments respond to the Lisbon treaty
Gavin Barrett (University College Dublin) The Early Warning System: subsidiarity and law
Ian Cooper (ARENA Oslo) National Parliaments as a ‘virtual third chamber’ of the European Union: evidence from the Post-Lisbon Treaty Period
Adam Cygan (University of Leicester) Accountability, parliamentarism and transparency: the role of national parliaments in the EU
11.15 National Parliaments respond to the Lisbon treaty
Sonia Piedrafita (CEPS, Brussels) and John O’ Brennan (NUI Maynooth) The EWS and the ‘laggards’: national parliaments in Ireland and Spain respond to the incentives within the EWS
Rik de Ruiter (Leiden University) The Barosso Initiative, the Lisbon treaty and ex ante parliamentary scrutiny in the UK and the Netherlands
Thomas Winzen (ETH Zurich) Bureaucracy and Democracy: intra-parliamentary delegation in EU affairs
12.45 Lunch
14.15 National Parliaments during the EU Crisis
Aleksandra Maatsch (University of Cambridge) Are we all austerians now? An analysis of parliamentary parties’ positioning on anti-crisis measures (Parliamentary governance during the crisis) Frank Wendler (University of Washington in Seattle) Parliamentary responses to the Eurozone crisis: Authorization, scrutiny and debate in the German Bundestag and the French Assemblée Nationale
15.15 Coffee
15.30 National Parliaments during the EU Crisis Felix Roth (CEPS, Brussels and University of Göttingen) Crisis and trust in national parliaments- panel evidence for the EU, 1999 to 2012
Davor Jancic (LSE) National parliaments and the accountability of the European Council
Jan Karlas (Charles University, Prague) National parliaments and EU affairs in Central and Eastern Europe: temporal and cross-country variation