1. The growing role of Parliaments in the complex EU decision-making process

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1 Oifig Pharlaimint na heorpa in Éirinn European Parliament Office in Ireland PRESENTATION BY MR FRANCIS JACOBS, HEAD OF OFFICE, TO THE MEETING OF JOINT COMMITTEE ON EUROPEAN AFFAIRS Wednesday, 7 July 2011 Introduction I am honoured to have been invited to make a contribution to your committee at this early stage in your important work. As a number of you know, I have closely followed the work of the Oireachtas on European Affairs over the last few years, as well as the recommendations that have been made to reinforce your role, including in your recent Subcommittee report and in the Programme for Government. I am very pleased to see some of these ideas already being implemented, as well as the introduction of your Europe Day debate on 9 May this year, at which all the Irish MEPs were invited to participate. Today I would like to look at the areas in which our work is directly relevant to yours, and some of the ways in which our office might be able to back you up in the future. 1. First, I would like to say a few words about the growing role of Parliaments in the complex EU decision-making process and how relations between the European Parliament and national parliaments have become much more intense than in the past. 2. Second, I would like to give a brief description of the role of our office. 3. Finally, I would like to make a few specific suggestions for the future. 1. The growing role of Parliaments in the complex EU decision-making process When working in the mid 1990's on the staff of your counterpart committee - the European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee - I recall assisting a Belgian MEP in the drafting of an EP report on relations between the European Parliament and national parliaments. When I look back at the conclusions of that report now, I am struck by how much has changed since then and how both the EP and NPs now play a much greater role in EU decision-making than they did then. (a) Evolving role of the EP post Lisbon As Minister Creighton pointed out earlier, the European Parliament is a much more powerful Parliament than it was 20 years ago, particularly since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Its powers now include:

2 (i) Legislative "Co-decision" with the Member States: in other words the right to amend or reject practically all EU laws (and since the Lisbon Treaty also including on the forthcoming proposals on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)); (ii) The power to co-decide on the EU annual Budget, and to say "yes" or "no" to the longer-term EU budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework that has just been presented); (iii) The right to say "yes" or "no" to future EU enlargement (Croatia in the near future, and possibly others, such as Turkey, at a later date); (iv) The right to say "yes" or "no" to key international agreements (SWIFT, World Trade negotiations, Mercosur, etc); (v) Finally a growing role on EU appointments (especially the President and College of EU Commissioners, but also other posts such as the Board of the European Central Bank, the European Court of Auditors, EU Agency leaders etc as well as on Treaty change). In addition to its formal powers, the European Parliament has growing informal powers in a number of areas: - Helping to shape the EU agenda, through annual and longer-term legislative planning, working with the Commission and Member States on what should be - or not be - on the EU agenda (the most practical way to control subsidiarity!); - Giving its views on EU strategy documents (Green and White Papers, etc) when they can more easily be shaped and are not set in stone; - Participating in debates on EU Foreign and Security Policy; - Debating the implementation of EU law (eg. nitrates) and backing up or criticising the Commission as appropriate; - Responding to concerns of individual EU citizens (notably through its Petitions Committee, through oral and written questions, and, in the near future, through tracking the progress of the EU Citizens' Initiatives). A final important feature of the European Parliament is that it cannot be dissolved, and, like the US Congress, but not other national parliaments, it is not subordinate to any government and has the right to set its own agenda. It is not monolithic and contains a huge range of views. It adopts majority and minority positions although these are not permanent and have to be fought for on each occasion. (b) Role of NPs and development of EP-NP relations National Parliaments also play a more important part in EU-decision making than in the past. The Lisbon Treaty gives greater impetus to this process, with the role of National Parliaments being mentioned specifically at the beginning of Treaties, and with them being given a number of new formal powers, especially on subsidiarity control (such as on the recent Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base initiative (CCCTB) when a number of Parliaments challenged the Commission's proposal on subsidiarity grounds although the Lisbon Treaty thresholds were not reached). In the

3 long-term, however, the development of National Parliaments' more informal role on the substance rather than the form of EU policy could be of even greater significance. This development of the roles both of the European Parliament and of National Parliaments has also led to more intense contacts between them. I would emphasise two points in this context: (i) Firstly there are far greater contacts than before, both between individual national parliaments in the EU, and also between them and the European Parliament. Examples of such meetings are Speakers Conferences, meetings between your committee and its counterparts in other EU countries through COSAC, and through a growing variety of other meetings, including between sectoral committees or on specific policy themes, such as on EUROPOL or on the new European Semester. Just to give one example, 23 Inter-parliamentary Committee meetings have taken place over the last 18 months alone. All this is leading to much more coordinated planning of these meetings than before. (ii) National Parliament contributions on EU issues are increasingly being sent to the EP to be factored in to the day-to-day work of its committees. Just to give an indication of the scale of this activity, over 100 EU draft laws have been sent to National Parliaments since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty. As a result of this, the EP has received almost 400 NP contributions, of which 59 were "reasoned opinions" on subsidiarity concerns and 337 were contributions concentrating on the substance rather than the form of the proposal. 2. Role of our Office We are located in the same building as the European Commission, at the corner of Dawson and Molesworth Streets (closer to Leinster House than I was to the office of my chairman when I worked as a committee staffer in the EP offices in Brussels and Strasbourg!). We have a variety of roles: (i) (ii) Provide information within Ireland on the role and activities of the European Parliament and of Irish MEPs to Irish citizens, as well as to government, parliament, sectoral groups, NGOs, schools and media. Assist our MEPs - not just our 12 Irish MEPs but also visiting MEPs from other countries - and, in particular, the EP President and EP committee delegations. For example, as Minister Creighton just mentioned, President Buzek will be making an official visit to Ireland next Monday and Tuesday, July. The Economic and Monetary Committee was in Ireland on May this year and met with key Irish decision-makers to consider CCCTB, including with the temporary Oireachtas Committee set up while awaiting establishment of the permanent Oireachtas Committee. Some of these visits are general while others are on specific themes, such as the delegation of the Employment Committee which looked at the application of the Globalisation Fund, including a visit to Limerick to examine its implementation for former Dell workers. These visits

4 will become even more intense in the run-up in the second half of 2012 to the Irish Presidency and during the Presidency itself in the first half of (iii) Provide information on political and economic developments in Ireland to colleagues in Brussels and in other EU countries and exchange information with them on relevant developments elsewhere within the EU. (iv) In all the above contexts, build up networks with Irish government, NGOS and other organisations and Irish civil society. As mentioned by Barbara Nolan, we also have an annual Joint Action Plan with the European Commission Office and Irish government on communicating on European issues. (v) We also place great emphasis on contacts with schools and the third-level education sector, including encouragement for development of European issues on school curricula, facilitating visits by schools and teachers to our offices and to the EU institutions, and organising a variety of schools competitions, such as a schools video competition ("My Vision for Europe"). Of particular importance in a number of these contexts are the Euroscola Prizes that we provide on a several occasions per year, whereby schools which have won competitions, are given funding so that they can travel to Strasbourg to meet with schools from other EU countries and simulate the work of MEPs in the actual Parliament chamber. (vi) We also organise meetings with our MEPs and with the above networks to highlight the work of the European Parliament on issues of national or regional concern to Ireland (such as the CAP, the CFP, tourism, etc). We take part in fairs and exhibitions such as the Ploughing Championships and Young Scientists Exhibition, as well as special events, such as Europe Day and the meeting of the Charter of European Rural Communities which took place in Cashel recently and was mentioned by Minister Creighton. We are currently exploring the idea of a regional week in south-east Ireland. (vii) We work closely with the Irish media, including national and regional media. Among our many activities in this area are a workshop for young journalists, and media visits to the EP in Brussels and Strasbourg (viii) Finally, as I mentioned at the outset, we closely follow developments in the Oireachtas and also form a network on EP-NP relations with your own staff, the Oireachtas representative in Brussels and with our own service for relations with National Parliaments 3. A few suggestions as to how we might work together with you in the future So finally, how can we back you up in your important tasks for the future? There are three main ways in which we can be of assistance: (i) Improved information flow First we can provide information to you and your staff as to what is happening in the EP, what is on the future agenda of the EP, what is the timing of EU laws within the

5 EP, when can you best make contributions on form or substance of proposals and what is happening to your contributions. One of our information tools for example is a newsletter called EP News, a pre-plenary update on major pieces of legislation going through the European Parliament, and including the priorities of Irish MEPs. (ii) Help to facilitate contacts and meetings between Oireachtas members and MEPs Second we can keep you informed of future visits from the European Parliament, particularly delegations from its committees (including meetings in Dublin with you or with sectoral committees or visits to your constituencies). Another important instrument for your committee and for the sectoral committees of the Oireachtas are meetings with Irish MEPs or with other MEPs, such as the rapporteur on the future of the CAP or another important report for Ireland. Face toface meetings can often be difficult to organise because of calendar overlaps between the EP and the Oireachtas, but other means can be used, such as videoconference links. The European Parliament in Brussels now has three committee rooms which have permanent multilingual videoconferencing facilities. A technical test has recently been successfully carried out. (iii) Additional information Most people agree that there is a need for more information in Ireland on the European Union and this also applies to the European Parliament. Our office would be very pleased to back you up in this vital task. The Subcommittee report and Programme for Government suggested that when there are schools or visitors groups from your constituencies they be encouraged to come the few steps down the street to our offices and to those of the Commission. We strongly support this suggestion and will help as much as we can in its implementation. An information kiosk on the EU has been suggested for the Oireachtas, and again we would like to help in any way, including by providing speakers and/or publications. We can also help to facilitate meetings of Irish groups visiting the EP in Brussels or Strasbourg. An important new initiative in this context is the opening in October this year of a state-of-the art visitors' centre at the European Parliament in Brussels, which will also have interactive features such as simulation games. Finally, if you need any information on the European Parliament, as a committee or individually, do not hesitate to contact us for our assistance. I will leave it there but am very happy to answer your questions and our office looks forward to working with you closely in the future.