Zagreb - National parliaments should take a more active part in the European Union's legislative procedure, Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said on Friday at a session of the European Affairs Committee dedicated to the principle of subsidiarity in said procedure.
Croatia is closely following the debate on the further development of parliamentary cooperation and the implementation of Lisbon Treaty provisions on the participation of national parliaments in the legislative procedure. We want to take an active part in that and make our contribution within the possibilities provided us by the Treaty of Lisbon, said Leko.
The principle of subsidiarity envisages that in areas of divided powers between the EU and the member states, legislative acts are adopted on the EU level only if the same goal cannot be achieved by adopting acts on the national or local levels. Leko said the powers envisaged by the Treaty of Lisbon strengthened the role of national parliaments in the European regulatory process.
-Although many of them aren't sufficiently effective to give parliaments some kind of veto right, their participation can become significant, he said, supporting any debate on new solutions to improve regulations on parliamentary supervision and parliaments' participation in the EU's legislative procedure. -The issue of subsidiarity in that procedure is especially important. This institute enables parliaments to directly participate in the EU's legislative process.
Leko appealed to Croatian MPS to raise their awareness of these issues, notably subsidiarity. -It is necessary to ensure and win a greater democratic individuality of European Union member countries when it is not necessary to unify solutions for the entire EU, he said. (Hina)