Barroso wil nauwere banden met nationale parlementen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has announced a strategically important move to strengthen relations with national parliaments by presenting new EU legislation in the capitals.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels at a joint assembly of national parliamentarians and MEPs, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso i on Tuesday (9 May) called for "a strengthened partnership with national parliaments".

Mr Barroso promised to send all new EU proposals and consultation papers to national parliaments and invited them to react at an earlier stage in the European legislation process.

"First, the Commission wishes to transmit directly all new proposals and consultation papers to national parliaments, inviting them to react so as to improve the process of policy formulation", he said.

"Working closer with national parliaments can help make European policies more attuned and more effectively implemented," he told the parliamentarians.

The initiative resembles the so-called "yellow card" procedure foreseen in the EU Constitution stating that the commission should review a legislative proposal, if at least one third of national parliaments believe the proposal falls outside EU competencies.

"Clearly, the early warning system proposed needs the force of a Treaty to come into being", Mr Barroso said.

"However, for too long national parliaments have been seen as semi-detached players on the European scene. This must change. The involvement of national parliaments can help make European policies more attuned to diverse circumstances and more effectively implemented."

Mr Barroso also pledged to visit all the national parliaments during his term as head of the commission.

"I make a personal commitment today to visit all national parliaments during this commission, should they so wish," he said.

The proposals are part of an overall initiative of the future of the EU to be published by the commission today and discussed by EU leaders at a summit next month.

The commission's plan won praise from its most critical opponents when eurosceptics branded the move a historic victory.

"This is an important concession to the no's in France and the Netherlands", said Danish MEP and chairman of the eurosceptics ID-group, Jens-Peter Bonde. He was referring to the rejection of the constitution in referendums last year by French and Dutch voters.

But other members of the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee have strongly criticised plans by national parliaments to play a stronger role in the EU legislation process.

Austrian Green MEP Johannes Voggenhuber suggested national governments would undermine the powers of the European Parliament.

"These are intentional, systematic efforts by national governments to strengthen intergovernmental Europe," he said after a meeting in the committee earlier this month.

His French Green colleague Gerard Onesta referred to it as a "Trojan horse designed to undermine the whole system."