THE ROLE OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS IN THE SCRUTINY OF EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION-UK CASE

This paper explains scrutiny, which is realised by the national parliaments in the decision-making process of the European Union and also how the national parliaments function, by making use of the UK Model. In addition to the model in the House of Lords which is analysed in details, the model in the House of Commons has also been investigated. In this context, the working procedures of the sub-committees in the House of Lords, the scrutiny of the three pillars of the European Union (the European Community and its legislation, common foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs) that were defined in the Maastrich Treaty which entered in to force as of 1993, the stages of scrutiny, the main differences between the scrutiny in the House of Lords and House of Commons have been studied. Besides, the scrutiny which is practiced in Germany, France and Denmark have been looked in to. Also the strengths and weaknesses of the national parliaments in the scrutiny process have been analysed. The paper ends with a section in which recommedations exist on how to better run the scrutiny of EU legislation which is realised by the national parliaments.