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Early warning system

The Lisbon Treaty includes an early-warning mechanism for subsidiarity control. The system allows national parliaments to object to Commission proposals within eight weeks of its publication on the grounds that it breaches the principle of subsidiarity (that is to say that if a given objective may be achieved better at a local level the EU should not interfere).

If these "reasoned opinions" represent at least 1/3 of the votes allocated to national parliaments and their chambers, the Commission must review the draft legislation. The Commission may then decide whether to maintain, amend or withdraw its proposal.

This means that they can potentially ignore the concerns articulated by national parliaments and press forward with its proposal without making any amendments.

This first procedure is nicknamed "the yellow card" and it has been applied by the Commission since September 2006 following a promise by Commission President Barroso in a joint meeting between the European Parliament and the national parliaments.

The Commission committed itself to send all proposals for new legislation to all national parliaments, asking for their comments on possible breaches of  the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

In the first year the Commission received 152 reactions from different chambers of the national parliaments but changed not one of its draft law proposals. The French Senate reacted 39 times, the Federal Chamber in Germany (Bundesrat) reacted 20 times and the British House of Lords 17 times. The Dutch parliament 3 times and the Irish one.

The Lisbon Treaty (the revised Constitution) includes a new Art. 12 TEU and an amended protocol on subsidiarity. The yellow card is supplemented by an "orange card".

If "reasoned opinions" are submitted by at least a simple majority of the votes allocated to the national Parliaments, the proposal must be reviewed. After such review, the Commission may decide to maintain, amend or withdraw it.

If the Commission decides to maintain the proposal, a majority in the European Parliament or 55% of the member states in the Council may oppose it.

55 % is a tough threshold since 45 % of the  member states can always block a proposal for a new law. It is difficult to foresee any practical consequences of this 'orange card'.  

Links

See also the Lisbon Treaty and EU Constitution and the report of the Working Group on "Subsidiarity" of the Convention: http://european-convention.eu.......er.asp?lang=EN&Content=WGI

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