The European Parliament has approved a report aimed at strengthening the role of national parliaments in EU decision-making, in a vote hailed by right-wing groups as a significant shift towards greater subsidiarity and restraint in Brussels.
MEPs endorsed the text on Thursday, November 27th, by 337 votes to 245, with 12 abstentions.
The report, drafted by Marieke Ehlers of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), calls for more structured dialogue between national parliaments and EU institutions, extended deadlines for national scrutiny of proposals, and stronger mechanisms to ensure concerns raised by member states are taken into account.
Ehlers said the existing treaty provisions designed to give national parliaments a say in EU rule-making were “rarely used,” adding:
It is democratically very important that Member States engage in dialogue with the Commission and the European Parliament during the creation of European rules.
She described the vote as “an important milestone in the further dismantling of the cordon sanitaire,” arguing that it showed majority support for “less harmonisation, more legislative restraint from Brussels, and greater respect for the rights of national parliaments and Member States.”
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group also welcomed the outcome. Its shadow rapporteur, Gheorghe Piperea, said the Commission had previously “legislated first and justified subsidiarity later,” insisting that “respect for subsidiarity and proportionality must happen a priori, not as an afterthought.”
Both groups said the reforms would improve democratic accountability and bring EU decisions closer to citizens.
