Report from the Commission – Annual Report 2010 on relations between the European Commission and National Parliaments

2010 was the first full year of implementation of the new Lisbon Treaty. Following its entry into force in late 2009, the role of national Parliaments was strengthened considerably, in particular, with the new subsidiarity control mechanism, which features most prominently amongst the new rights of national Parliaments set out in Article 12 TEU (Treaty on European Union).

In addition, 2010 saw the new Commission taking office on 9 February, almost at the same time as the subsidiarity control mechanism started to be implemented. When the new College had a first thorough exchange of views on this issue, President Barroso and Vice-President Šefčovič underlined the importance of national Parliaments and stressed that this issue would be kept high on the Commission’s political agenda.

Finally, 2010 was marked by the economic crisis and by the joint efforts to respond adequately to it. This issue regularly featured on the agenda of discussions between national Parliaments and the Commission, be it in the context of COSAC, Joint Parliamentary Meetings or the numerous visits by Vice-President Šefčovič to national Parliaments. Economic governance was another of the key subjects on which national Parliament opinions focused in the context of the political dialogue.

This sixth annual report looks at how the Commission has implemented the above-mentioned new provisions of the Lisbon Treaty and presents a first stocktake of the functioning of the subsidiarity control mechanism.

The report also gives an overview of how the political dialogue, launched by President Barroso in 2006, has evolved in 2010, as regards not only the main topics commented on by national Parliaments, but also the various contacts between national Parliaments and the Commission.

Finally, the report looks at how the Commission sees its relations with national Parliaments developing in the near future.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)345: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:345:FIN

---