Justified Multi-level Parliamentarism: Situating National Parliaments in the European Polity

Abstract

Parliamentarism in the European Union (EU) is in crisis. The pooling of powers at the European level is not matched either by the new powers of national parliaments to scrutinise governmental policy-making or by the expansion of the authority of the European Parliament. What is needed is a new approach to strengthening parliamentarism in the EU that places national parliaments at the heart of the constitutional process. Strengthening the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) and transforming it into a constitutional body with the power to stimulate the development of the European constitutional order is the appropriate strategy.

Keywords:

• COSAC
• parliamentarism
• national parliaments
• European Parliament
• justification
• accountability

Note on Author

Jürgen Neyer is Professor of European Politics at the European University Viadrina at Frankfurt (Oder), Germany; email: [email protected]