European Union " "
A year after the appointment of Giorgio Napolitano as rapporteur for the Constitutional Affairs Commission that he himself chairs, the European Parliament has approved the “Report on the relations between the EP and the national parliaments in the framework of European construction”. The document recommends “the extension of the powers of the EP as regards all the decisions of the Union and the reinforcement of the national Parliaments as regards those incumbent on their respective governments”. The Napolitano report tackles the question of the greater involvement of the national Assemblies in the EU decision-making process and recommends the creation of an “interparliamentary accord” with a view to organizing cooperation in a more systematic and effective way. The report seems also to put a final end to the hypothesis of the establishment of a second European Chamber composed of national MPs, a solution that “would serve only to slow down the EU legislative process to the detriment of democracy and transparency”, says the report. One innovative feature of the text approved by the EP consists in the request that “the post of deputy of the European Parliament should exclude the possibility of simultaneously representing a constituency in a national or regional parliament”.
