HoC European Scrutiny Committee report on Economic and Monetary Union

21 January 2013

In its latest EMU report, the ESC reported a number of issues raised which caused 'grave concern'.

Excerpted from Conclusion

1.21 We note that the Van Rompuy Report states that new mechanisms to increase the level of cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament in the field of EMU, building on Article 13 of the SCG Treaty and Protocol 1 of the TFEU, should be the responsibility of national parliaments and the European Parliament to determine. The organisation and modalities of any such activity are yet to be determined. In our view they must be discussed in an appropriate forum, such as the regular Speakers’ Conference, bearing in mind that the Speakers of Member States have different constitutional roles and that the constitutional arrangements of Member States also differ.

1.22 No new institutions or bodies should be created which would have supremacy over the United Kingdom Parliament, as it has constitutional primacy.

1.23 We remain willing to discuss the matters which arise from the Commission Communication, the Van Rompuy Report and the Council Conclusions. We are bound to point out that there are a number of issues raised which cause us grave concern, exemplified by the following statements from the Communication, Van Rompuy Report and the Council Conclusions respectively:

“Interparliamentary cooperation as such does not, however, ensure democratic legitimacy for EU decisions. That requires a parliamentary assembly representatively composed in which votes can be taken. The European Parliament, and only it, is that assembly for the EU and hence for the euro.”
 
“At the same time, the provisions for democratic legitimacy and accountability should ensure that the common interest of the union is duly taken into account; yet national parliaments are not in the best position to take it into account fully.
"This implies that further integration of policy making and a greater pooling of competences at the European level should first and foremost be accompanied with a commensurate involvement of the European Parliament in the integrated frameworks for a genuine EMU.”
“Further integration of policy-making and greater pooling of competences must be accompanied by a commensurate involvement of the European Parliament. New mechanisms increasing the level of cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament, in line with Article 13 of the TSCG and Protocol No 1 to the Treaties, can contribute to this process. The European Parliament and national parliaments will determine together the organisation and promotion of a conference of their representatives to discuss EMU related issues.”
1.24 The principles on which discussions should now proceed, in our view, are:
  • proposals to reinforce the EMU and the EU economic governance framework in general will clearly impact economically and legally on all Member States, including those whose currency is not the euro. On this basis, and in full respect of Protocol 1 of the TFEU, any parliamentary oversight of a strengthened EMU, including that envisaged in Article 13 of the SCG Treaty, should be at the level of 27 national parliaments and the European Parliament; and
  • any new arrangements must respect the different competences of national parliaments and the European Parliament and operate consistently with national democratic scrutiny processes, including our own Standing Orders. So far as the United Kingdom is concerned, they must respect the primacy of this Parliament.
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