International

Since the Lisbon Treaty national parliaments have enjoyed the possibility of opening a dialogue with the European Commission. What seems at least as important is the introduction of a scheme to force the European Commission to reconsider, at an early stage, proposals it has presented. Since Lisbon roughly a third of the national elected representative bodies have reacted to a Commission proposal by saying it would be better not to do it. Known as a ‘yellow card’, this obliges the Commissioner to reconsider its proposal. If more than half of the twenty-eight national parliaments in the European Union brandish the card, it turns into an ‘orange card’, in which case the Commission, should it continue to pursue the proposal, will have the whistle blown on them by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

if we want to strengthen cooperation in Europe, then we shouldn’t be charging ahead, but lending an ear to the people who don’t go along with this, who say ‘superstate no, cooperation yes’. That was the message of SP leader Emile Roemer in his lecture on Europe and the credit crisis to the Student Association for International Relations (SIB) in Utrecht.