Activities of Barbara SPINELLI related to 2016/2149(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of the Treaty provisions concerning national parliaments PDF (396 KB) DOC (71 KB)
Amendments (22)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1
Citation 1
— having regard to the Treaty on European Union (TEU), in particular Article 5 on the conferral of competences and subsidiarity, Article 10(1) on representative democracy, Article 10(2) on the representation of EU citizens, Article 10(3) on EU citizens’ rights of participation in the democratic life of the Union, Article 11 on participatory democracy, Article 12 on the role of national parliaments, Article 48(3) on the ordinary revision procedure and Article 48(7) (passerelle clause) thereof,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
- having regard to Article 15 TFEU and Articles 41 and 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)
Citation 3 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2017 on a European Pillar of Social Rights,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
- having regard to its resolution of 14 September 2017 on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions,
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas national parliaments play an essential role in granting and completimproving the democratic legitimacy of the Union, thereby ensurameliorating its good constitutional functioning (Aarticle 12 TEU);
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas a lack of transparency in the EU legislative and decision-making processes risks to undermine the prerogatives of the national parliaments under the Treaties and the relevant Protocols and their role as governments’ watchdogs;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the inherent pluralism of national parliaments is remarkably beneficial to the Union, as the alignment of different political stances across the Member States can strengthens and broadens cross- sectional debates at European level;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas the economic, financial and social crisis have increased the distrust and disillusion of the EU citizens towards the current democratic model of representation, both at the European and national levels, as shown by the recent electoral trends; whereas the principle of subsidiarity should be rethought and extended in order to reflect the current reality and guarantee a closer involvement of the citizens and regional autonomous entities in the decision- making processes;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the implementation of the right for national parliaments to scrutinise compliance with the principle of subsidiarity, on the basis of the so-called early warning system (EWS), has partially improved relations between the EU institutions and national parliaments;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas interinstitutional cooperation has undoubtedly improved after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and of the so-called Barroso initiative;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S
Recital S
S. whereas national parliaments have relevant competencies in the areas of freedom, security and justice pursuant to Articles 70, 85 and 88 TFEU and should therefore have a say in the future of; whereas national parliaments should also have decisional and monitoring roles in the Union’s security and defence policy;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the rights and obligations of national parliaments deriving from the Treaty of Lisbon; considers that their implementation has enhanced the role of national parliamentary chambers within the European constitutional framework, thus improviding for the pluralism, democratic legitimacy and good functioning of the Union;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Acknowledges that national governments are democratically accountable to national parliaments pursuant to Article 10(2) TEU and their relevant national constitutional order; takes the view that such accountability is the keystone of the role of national parliamentary chambers in the European Union;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that national parliaments should be granted enough time and powers to, and the necessary access to information, to mandate and scrutinise the activity of national governments at European level, whether in the Council or, in the European Council or in the Eurogroup, in full compliance with the Member States’ constitutions; believes that an exchange of best practices between national parliaments should be promoted in this respect;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Considers that full transparency of the decision-making process and of the working method of the EU institutions and formal and informal bodies – such as the Eurogroup – represents a precondition for enabling national parliaments to effectively fulfil their institutional role deriving from the EU law; calls on the EU institutions to fully implement the recommendations set out in the European Parliament resolution on transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on the Council, Commission and European Parliament to strongly limit the recourse to trilogues in the ordinary legislative procedure and to guarantee their full transparency by way of publication of all the relevant documentation, as a mean to safeguard the right to information of the national parliaments;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Recommends that political calendars at national and European level should be better coordinated, by aligning the European Semester with the agendas of national parliaments, in order to coordinate economic policies, but without disregard for the powers of self-governance and the specific rules of procedure of each parliamentary chamber; suggests, therefore, the implementation of a national period for budgetary dialogue, during which national parliaments would be able to prepare the European Semester by mandating their own governments in their relations with the Commission and the Council; is convinced, however, that the European Semester should be radically reformed by establishing a revised monitoring system rebalancing macroeconomic and social aspects while enhancing the supervisory role of both the European Parliament and national parliaments over it;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Recommends to extend the provisions of Protocols No. 1 and 2 to the decisions adopted in the realm of the economic governance of the euro area, and especially those taken in the Eurogroup, in the Economic and Financial Committee, “informal” Ecofin Council meetings and Euro summits;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Recommends to extend the scope of the EU principle of subsidiarity by including, as addressees of the relevant Treaty provisions, also regional and local authorities with legislative powers, in order to better reflect the current representative realities within the Member States;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Suggests the implementation of a procedure whereby national parliaments could submit reasoned opinions to the Commission with the aim of positively influencing its powers of legislative initiative, and whereby the Commission could either legislate in line with such opinions or issue a reasoned veto underlining its reasons for not doing so; points out that such a procedure cannot consist of a right to legislative initiative, or a right to withdraw or amend legislation, as it would otherwise subvert the Union method and violate the Treaties; at the same time recommends that, in the event of a possible future revision of the Treaties, the right of legislative initiative be mainly attributed to the European Parliament, as direct representative of the EU citizens;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. WelcomesTakes note of the existing cooperation between the European Parliament and national parliaments in the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC), in the Interparliamentary Conference on Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP-IPC), and within the framework of Article 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; stresses that such cooperation should be developed on the basis of the principles of consensus, information-sharing and consultation, in order to exercise control over their respective administrations;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Recommends that national parliaments be fully involved in the foreseeable enhancementield of the Common Security and Defence Policy; believes that such involvement should take into account the provisions of national constitutions regarding security and defence policies and should be settled in close cooperation with the European Parliament, namely through joint inter- parliamentary meetings between representatives from national parliaments and Members of the European Parliament and via a prolific political dialogue between a full-fledged Committee on Security and Defence in the European Parliament and the corresponding national parliamentary committees;