Suchergebnisse

A critical assessment of the role of national parliaments in the EU after the Lisbon Treaty and the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone, this book examines whether national parliaments have become resigned or resilient actors in these new socio-economic and politico-legal circumstances

Abstract: "This paper analyses Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations in order to assess how the move towards tighter economic integration within the EU-US strategic partnership impacts on legislative-executive relations in EU trade policy. The analysis examines the institutional, substantive and party political dimensions of national parliaments' scrutiny of the Common Commercial Policy. Based on insights into both domestic and EU channels of parliamentary monitoring of TTIP negotiations, the paper argues that, although the government remains the central object of democratic control, the involvement of national parliaments in transatlantic trade extends to encompass the EU's own transatlantic and trade policies. This is rooted in the legislatures' legal capacity to constrain the executive in the negotiation, conclusion and, where applicable, ratification phases of EU trade agreements. It is argued that national parliamentary influence takes the shape of politicisation of the legitimacy of the expected policy outcomes of these agreements." (Seite 202)

This article examines the role of the European Parliament in ensuring democratic participation in European Union external relations and global governance. Although the Lisbon Treaty has reinforced the European Parliament's foreign affairs prerogatives, many obstacles hinder its influence. This prompts the European Parliament to invest considerable institutional resources not only to counterbalance the Commission and the Council and reduce information asymmetry, but also to enhance its posture on the world stage through value-oriented and region-oriented parliamentary diplomacy. The article argues that by conducting world diplomacy, the European Parliament generates critical mass for its institutional empowerment by a crafty application of its treaty rights, by means of non-legislative instruments, and by establishing bilateral and multilateral diplomatic contacts with parliamentary and executive bodies worldwide. The European Parliament thereby attempts to portray itself as an actor without which decisions cannot be made.

AbstractThis article analyses the manner in which the parliaments of the EU and the US – two key global strategic partners – participate in the shaping of transatlantic relations. The article argues that the European Parliament (EP) and Congress aim not only to influence their executive branches but also to act autonomously in the transnational arena through parliamentary diplomacy. They seek to secure concessions both formally by scrutinizing transatlantic international agreements, such as TTIP, as well as informally by exposing injustices and diplomatic misconduct through human rights advocacy and institutional pressure, such as in the cases of the NSA surveillance and CIA renditions. The article demonstrates that the EP and Congress have created capacities for internal scrutiny and transnational interparliamentary dialogue and that they utilize their consent powers to make claims, condition transatlantic negotiations and gain greater presence, visibility and influence in international affairs.

AbstractThis article analyses the roles of the European Parliament and the US Congress in addressing regulatory interdependencies arising in the EU–US strategic partnership. It examines their international actorness as a potential remedy for the problems of democratic participation, executive dominance, and opaqueness in the shaping of transatlantic relations. It shows that legislatures significantly contribute to regulatory discrepancies and trade disputes and that the adverse consequences thereof justify more intensiveex antecooperation between them. The analysis conducts two groups of case studies to demonstrate how the EP and Congress influence law and policy in areas of transatlantic regulatory and foreign policy divergence. The first group of case studies analyses parliamentary involvement in the making of international agreements (TTIP and ACTA). The second group of case studies inspects legislative action with extraterritorial effects (US Helms–Burton and Sarbanes–Oxley Acts). The article argues that the EP and Congress have so far frequently acted against the spirit of the strategic partnership in ways that are injurious to the interests of the other side, and discusses whether an interparliamentary early warning mechanism could reduce legislative and political frictions and increase the coherence of transatlantic lawmaking.

This article carries out a multifaceted legal analysis of the so-called Barroso Initiative, which was commenced by the European Commission in September 2006 in order to involve national parliaments of the Member States in the process of EU policy making. The key motive underlying the Initiative is to enhance the parliamentary and democratic dimension of the Union. After examining the origins, nature, scope and purpose of the Initiative, we explain the distinction between the Barroso Initiative and the early warning mechanism. In an attempt to assess the practical effects of the Initiative, we probe into its operation and reception in the national parliaments of France, the United Kingdom and Portugal, as systems which represent different constitutional and political traditions and which thus exhibit different attitudes to European scrutiny. In particular, we inquire about the constitutional impact of the Initiative on the national parliament in question. The paper concludes that the Barroso Initiative is a welcome commitment whose potential for eradicating the democratic deficit is modest but nonetheless one worth actively engaging in.

This article analyses the constitutional, statutory and informal arrangements available to the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic for participation in EU decision making. The focus is on the 2006 European Scrutiny Act, the 2010 reform of the scrutiny procedures and the Barroso initiative. These developments provide a solid basis on which the Assembly's dependence on the Government can be reduced. The informal method of parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs hitherto practised in Portugal has morphed into a document-based system. In these respects, the Portuguese Parliament no longer deserves the epithet of a laggard.

Introduction : the rise of parliamentary diplomacy in international politics / Stelios Stavridis and Davor Jančić -- World diplomacy of the European Parliament / Davor Jaňcić -- The role of the European Parliament president in parliamentary diplomacy / Luigi Gianniti and Nicola Lupo -- The diplomatic role of the European Parliament's standing committees, delegations and assemblies : insights from ACP-EU inter-parliamentary cooperation / Sarah Delputte, Cristina Fasone and Fabio Longo -- The diplomatic role of the European Parliament's political groups in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict / Yoav Shemer-Kunz -- The international role of the European Parliament's intergroups / Laurent Dutoit -- The EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee and Turkey's EU accession process / Valentina Rita Scotti -- The impact of parliamentary diplomacy, civil society and human rights advocacy on EU strategic partners : the case of Mexico / Monica Velasco Pufleau -- A bridge with Russia? : the parliamentary assemblies of the OSCE and of the Council of Europe in the Russia-Ukraine crisis / Andrea Gawrich -- The south-east European cooperation process and its new parliamentary assembly : regional dialogue in action / Franklin De Vrieze -- The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and its contribution to democracy promotion and crisis management / Andrea Cofelice -- Parliamentary diplomacy and the US Congress : the case of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly / Zlatko Sabic -- Challenges for parliamentary diplomacy in South and South-East Asia and Europe : a practitioner's perspective / Xavier Nuttin -- Parliamentary diplomacy in the Chinese constitution and foreign policy / Wang Liwan -- Parliamentary diplomacy in northeast Asia : lessons from the Parliamentarians' Unions in Japan and South Korea / Jiun Bang -- Australia's parliamentary diplomacy : a study of the bilateral relationship with South Korea / Jeffrey Robertson -- Regional integration and parliamentary diplomacy : experiences of the MERCOSUR, Andean and Latin American Parliaments / Karina L. Pasquariello Mariano, Regiane Nitsch Bressan and Bruno Theodoro Luciano -- Understanding success and failure in the quest for peace : the Pan-African Parliament and the Amani Forum / Konstantinos Magliveras and Asteris Huliaras -- South Africa's parliamentary diplomacy and the 'African agenda' / Lesley Masters and Fritz Nganje -- Conclusions : parliamentary diplomacy as a global phenomenon / Stelios Stavridis

Parliamentary Diplomacy in European and Global Governance offers a detailed interdisciplinary study of a new global phenomenon: the rise and impact of parliamentary diplomacy in European, regional and world affairs.