National Parliaments and the EU

12 October 2015 
Strengthening the role of national parliaments is one central demand in the UK's agenda in re-negotiating the terms of its EU membership. In addition, Parliament's control over EU decision making promises to be an important battleground of debate in the referendum campaign. The House of Lords EU Committee published an important report on the question in March 2014.

A common claim is that national parliamentarians have a better sense of the citizens' concerns than their counterparts in the European Parliament, and should therefore play a greater role in EU decision-making. But would this improve democratic control?

Join the European Institute and the Centre for European Reform for an evening to discuss:

• What can national parliaments do that the European Parliament and the national governments meeting in the European Council cannot?
• How good are national parliaments at scrutinizing EU legislation? Are there existing practices of parliamentary involvement that could be a model to others, and what reforms would be needed in the case of the UK Parliament?
• Could greater involvement of national improve the EU's legitimacy, and what are the main problems with it?

Participants

• Klaus Welle, Secretary General of the European Parliament
• Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform
• Lord Boswell, Chairman of the House of Lords' EU Select Committee
• Baroness Smith, House of Lords and Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Cambridge

Chair: Prof. Albert Weale, UCL

This event is part of our Britain and Europe project.

The Centre for European Reform is conducting a research project on Democracy in Europe supported by a grant from the Open Society Foundations. See research fellow Agata Gostynska's post on Why Parliament can't have a frank discussion about the EU on our Britain and Europe blog. Her latest policy brief on how to strengthen Westminster's oversight over EU policy can be found here.