Towards a ‘Green Card’ ? Rethinking Parliamentary Engagement in the EU Governance

One of the main promises of the Treaty of Lisbon was to increase the democratic legitimacy of the European Union through strengthening the role of national parliaments in EU policy-making under the so-called ‘Early Warning System’ (EWS) for subsidiarity control. In fact, some studies have shown that the EWS has generated positive effects with respect to both the input and output legitimacy of the EU which allows for its broader conceptualisation as (1) a disciplining tool for a better regulatory environment; (2) a representation and accountability enhancing mechanism; (3) an opportunity structure for increasing parliamentary control of the executive. This article attempts at revising this view in the context of the latest ‘yellow card’ raised by national parliaments in relation to the Commission’s proposal to set up an European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In this case, the Commission decided to go ahead with the proposal, and in the event of lack of unanimity in the Council, to proceed under the “enhanced co-operation” procedure, which says just nine EU countries can launch new EU initiatives. The article analyzes the reasoned opinions of national parliaments under the EWS to probe the argument that the review of national Parliaments should have a broader scope including the question of the proportionality, legal basis or political merits of a draft EU legislative proposal.