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Visegrad 4 addresses Lisbon Treaty role

National parliaments want to have a voice in EU legislation

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 4th, 2008 issue

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

Parliamentary leaders from Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland met May 29 and 30 to discuss EU subsidiarity policy. enlarge

Leaders from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — a group called the Visegrad 4 — met in Prague May 29 and 30 to discuss how they can better cooperate with each other within the European Union government after the anticipated implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. Officials say the treaty, if ratified, will give national parliaments more involvement in deciding new laws. More so than they have in the past, member states would be allowed to promote their interests and form coalitions with like-minded countries.

Each national parliament would also have the option to send any proposed legislation to which it objects back to the commission.

“We are not trying to create a blocking majority but a caucus to promote our common interests,” said Přemysl Sobotka, chairman of the Czech Senate during a press conference Friday. “We cannot let this opportunity offered by the Lisbon Treaty pass.”

The Lisbon Treaty, essentially a replacement for the failed EU Constitution Treaty of 2005, was signed in December by the heads of 27 EU countries, and has since been moving toward unionwide ratification. It gives each national parliament greater capacity to participate alongside the European institutions in the work of the EU. A new clause outlines the rights and duties of the national parliaments within the EU, dealing with such issues as the individual governments’ right to information, methods of monitoring subsidiarity and mechanisms for evaluating policies of freedom, security and justice.

The greatest novelty introduced by the Lisbon Treaty lies in a new power to enforce subsidiarity. Subsidiarity means that, except in the areas where it has exclusive powers, the EU acts only where action will be more effective at the EU level than at the national level.

Any national parliament may flag a proposal for EU action that it believes does not respect this principle within eight weeks of being informed of the proposal. If one-third of national parliaments from the 27 member countries then feel the proposal is not in line with subsidiarity, the EC will have to re-examine it. If a majority of national parliaments agrees with the objection but the EC decides to maintain its proposal anyway, the commission will have to explain its reasons, and it will be up to the European Parliament and the Council to decide whether or not to continue the legislative procedure.

Acts of diplomacy

The attending dignitaries were quick to recognize the importance of such changes.

“We were the first ones to ratify the treaty,” said László Mandur, deputy speaker of the Hungarian Parliament. “It is essential for the future of the European Union that it is ratified by all member countries by the end of the year. Then we can start cooperating on key issues of European policy.”

His sentiments were echoed by the speaker of the Polish Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz. “National parliaments will have to assume more responsibilities,” he added. “In order to do our job properly, we will have to cooperate on a daily basis. The Lisbon Treaty offers an opportunity, but we will have to work hard to take advantage of it.”

For his part, Sobotka commented that he would like a communication bill between the two Czech houses of Parliament to be drafted. He also called for a similar legislation to be passed on the international level in order to create a framework within which national parliaments could discuss EU proposals.

Pavol Paška, chairman of the Slovak Parliament, responded by pointing out that “we have already proposed such legislation for international cooperation in the past but it has been refused by Euroskeptics.”

Miloslav Vlček, chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, promised to organize a conference of all EU heads of parliament during the Czech presidency to discuss the issue of interparliamentary cooperation.

The road ahead

The Lisbon Treaty ratification process is far from finished. ODS senators who have a majority in the Senate, voted in April to have the treaty examined by the Constitutional Court and hope that it will be declared unconstitutional. When asked about the reactions of foreign delegations to this move during the Friday press conference, Sobotka replied, “I have informed our colleagues of the steps that the Senate has taken. There was no disagreement. Even [EC President José Manuel] Barroso said last week during his visit in Prague that it is our right to investigate the treaty. We expect to ratify it in autumn.” But, before any of the foreign delegations — currently all pro-European — could answer, Chamber of Deputies spokesman Roman Žamboch concluded the press conference.

The Czech Republic is largely regarded as the biggest “troublemaker” among EU member states regarding Lisbon Treaty ratification. “The court is expected to decide on the issue sometime in September,” said Cyril Svoboda, chairman of the governmental legislative council. “The following Senate elections in October will delay discussion about the treaty in the Senate until late November. If we are lucky, the ratification deadline will be met in December, but it will be a close call.”

However, the Czech Republic is not the only one that officials in Brussels are biting their nails over. While all EU states have decided to ratify the treaty by parliament in order to speed up the process, Ireland will put the treaty to referendum because its constitution demands it. The public vote should take place June 12 and is eagerly awaited in Brussels as Ireland has voted against key European issues such as the Schengen Agreement in the past.

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at obouda@praguepost.com

Reader's comments:

add your comment

[01:01 08/06/2008] : The Lisbon Treaty is FASCIST!!! Burn it!!!

Eirik
Manchester

[00:51 15/06/2008] : Let's be totally honest about the NO vote.
It was a mix of disenchanted groups from farmers, fishermen, anti-government, frustrated middle class, republican militarists and right-wing vested interests. As an Irishman who struggled with making our decision I finally came to the decision by reading fairly straight-forward documentation from our referendum commission.
The information was available, but I am afraid we have become a lazy electorate. We preferred to listen to the claims and internalize them into our own problems. We deserve to face the consequences of our actions. We pride ourselves on being educated but I believe we showed our ignorance. Confusion won the day because we allowed ourselves to be directed. I believe we deserve to bear the consequences of our inability to grasp fairly straight forward arguments and allowed ourselves to be confused by the NO campaign. Unfortunately the consequence of our action may not be apparent for our own generation but our children will rue this vote.
Europe won't be wagged by the Irish tail. Rightly so. We deserve to be left on the sidelines and we will be - eventually. The NO voters will abdicate responsibility when the consequences unfold. But history will be the final judge.

Ignatius Hanley
Dublin

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