Parliamentary scrutiny as a function of interparliamentary cooperation among subnational parliaments

Figures & data

Table 1. Founding year.

	CPI-IPR	BSPC	CALRE
Founding year	1986	1991	1997

Source: compiled by the authors.

Figure 1. Development of scrutiny activities in plenary documents per year in total numbers.

Note: no BSPC was organised in 1993 (Kasack, 2005). Source: compiled by the authors.

Table 2. Institutionalisation of interparliamentary cooperations and scrutiny activities.

Institutional density	CPI-IPR	BSPC	CALRE
Are rules of procedure in place?	Yes^a Additional^b	Yes^c	Yes^d
Is there a permanent and independent secretariat?	Yes (1 Secretariat)	Yes (1 BSPC Secretariat, additional administrative staff of the participating parliaments)	No (Secretariat General consists of assistants of the members of the standing committee)
Is there a common budget?	Yes CPI-IPR Budget, Art. 14 of the rules of procedure	Yes Common financial mechanism of the BSPC; not all parliaments participate	No
Frequency of parliamentary meetings	Minimum of one annual meeting, de facto two annual meetings	One annual meeting	One annual meeting
Voting modalities in the plenary	Voting not against the will of a delegation; abstention is possible	Consensus; abstention is possible Votes on budgetary matters only by those participating in the budget	Unanimity; abstention is possible
Is there a standing committee?	Yes	Yes At least four meetings per year	Yes At least two annual meetings (within four months before a plenary session; on the eve of a plenary session)
Are there any sub-groups within the cooperation (committees, etc.)?	Six permanent committees (1. Economic matters; 2. Social matters; 3. Transportation and Communication; 4. Environment and Agriculture; 5. Schools, Education, Research and Culture; 6. Internal Security, Civil Protection and Emergency Services) Additional special committees are possible	Working groups In January 2016 only one on ‘Sustainable Tourism’	Permanent working group on subsidiarity; additional working groups (Cohesion, E-Democracy, Gender Equality, Immigration)
Do the rules of procedure contain information rights vis-à-vis the executive?	Yes Written requests Executives are present in meetings of the CPI-IPR CPI-IPR has observer status in meetings of the summits of the Grande Région Yearly report of the Economic and Social Committee of the Grande Région is presented to the CPI-IPR CPI-IPR can ask Economic and Social Committee of the Grande Région for expert opinions Committees of the CPI-IPR can make written requests to the executives	No But note that own research is being performed, cf. 10.1 rules of procedure	No
Do the rules of procedure contain control rights in excess of information?	Ex ante control (recommendations, Art. 10.1 rules of procedure) Right to propose the agenda for summits Ex post control is intended (executive reports) Executives have to render an account explaining their proceedings following recommendations Executives report to the CPI-IPR on the implementation of the adopted resolutions	Ex ante control Initiation of measures; 1.1 and 1.2 rules of procedure, Statements 1.3 rules of procedure.	No
Average of control activity per year (years 14–19 of existence)	23.5	19.5	2.3

Source: compiled by the authors.

^aCPI-IPR. Conventions et règlement. Retrieved from http://www.cpi-ipr.com/fr/Conventions/ (31 January 2017).

^bCPI-IPR. Procédure pour le suivi des questions posées par les membres du Conseil Parlementaire Interrégional (CPI) et des demandes adressées pour avis aux autorités de la Sarre, de la Lorraine, du Luxembourg, de Rhénanie-Palatinat, de la Région wallonne, de la Communauté Française de Belgique et de la Communauté Germanophone de Belgique. Retrieved from http://www.cpi-ipr.com/fr/Conventions/conv_quest.asp (31 January 2017).

^cBSPC. Rules of procedure. Retrieved from http://www.bspc.net/file/show/629 (31 January 2017). The rules of procedure were changed in 2016, i.e. after the period of the analysis.

^dCALRE. Organisation rules. Retrieved from http://www.calrenet.eu/what-is-calre/organization-rules/ (31 January 2017).

Table 3. Total numbers of ex ante and ex post scrutiny activities.

		1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
CALRE	Ex ante	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0	3	3	6	0
	Ex post	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0	0	0	0	0
BSPC	Ex ante	–	–	–	–	6	–	8	16	16	17	20	21	15	34
	Ex post	–	–	–	–	0	–	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CPI-IPR	Ex ante	9	17	3	1	12	29	8	4	0	34	29	41	18	33
	Ex post	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
		2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
CALRE	Ex ante	0	0	0	0	3	1	3	1	0	0	2	4	6	2
	Ex post	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BSPC	Ex ante	12	24	6	21	16	17	22	35	32	44	50	31	26	56
	Ex post	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CPI-IPR	Ex ante	29	14	6	8	27	16	11	11	28	86	42	33	63	41
	Ex post	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: compiled by the authors.

Table 4. Levels of deputising.

	CPI-IPR	BSPC	CALRE
Association to which the interparliamentary cooperation relates	Grande Région Saar–Lor–Lux–Rhineland-Palatinate–Wallonie–French- and German-speaking communities of Belgium	Council of the Baltic Sea States	EU
Deputising level of the executive	National and subnational executives	National executives and European Commission^a	EU institutional system at large (sui generis) National executives in the (European) Council, European Parliament and national parliaments also enjoy functions
No. of participating subnational parliaments	6^b	11^c	74^d
No. of participating national parliaments	1^e	11^f	0
European Parliament	No	Yes	No

Source: compiled by the authors.

^aThe members of the Council of Baltic Sea States are Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the European Commission.

^bLorraine, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, French-speaking community of Belgium, German-speaking community of Belgium.

^cÅland, Bremen, Färöer Islands, Greenland, Hamburg, Kaliningrad region, Karelian region, Leningrad region, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, St Petersburg.

^dMembers are all subnational parliaments of Austria (nine), Belgium (five), Germany (16), Italy (22), Spain (17) and Great Britain (three), as well as the parliaments of the Åland Islands and Madeira.

^eLuxembourg.

^fRussian Federation, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden.

Table 5. Congruence of levels and scrutiny activities.

	CPI-IPR	BSPC	CALRE
Congruence of levels	Complete	Partial	No congruence
Average of scrutiny activity per year (years 14–18 of existence)	58.6	23.4	1.8

Source: compiled by the authors.

Kasack, C. (2005). Interaction of inter-parliamentary with inter-governmental bodies: The example of the Baltic Sea Region. In The Estonian foreign policy yearbook 2005 (pp. 135–153). Tallinn: The Estonian Foreign Policy Institute.

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