Dr. Sonia Piedrafita:

I thank the joint committee for inviting me to contribute to these meetings on the future of the European Union and the role of Ireland in same. It is a privilege to be present. I have been asked to discuss the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the EU. The first part of my presentation will consider how recent developments in EU economic governance might be underpinned in terms of democratic legitimacy and accountability and a greater role for the national parliaments. The second part of my presentation will examine the latest news on preparing the upcoming elections to the European Parliament.

Whereas the Lisbon treaty was a large step in the promotion of the Community method and the reduction of the EU's democratic deficit, the euro crisis has brought back increasing intergovernmentalism and the Council's prominent role in EU decision making, circumscribing the Commission's agenda-setting power and the European Parliament's co-legislative role.

Decisions which impact on citizens' lives are taken by other States and implemented by non-elected bodies which are more difficult to hold politically accountable. Some of these measures impose heavy constraints on national budgets and member states' capacity for policy setting. To address these shortfalls, it is essential to enhance the role of the European Parliament and that of national parliaments in the process. I am aware that the question of the European Parliament has been discussed by the committee previously. As such, I will focus in my presentation on the role of national parliaments.

The treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union obliges contracting parties to enshrine the balanced budget and debt rules their respective legal orders and to set up the necessary correction mechanisms. The two pack regulations introduces a common budgetary timeline and common budgetary roles for euro area member states. By 3 April, euro area member states must publish their medium term fiscal plans and stability and convergence programmes, together with a policy on priorities for growth and employment for the forthcoming 12 months. These are the national reform programmes following the recommendations forwarded by the Commission to the European Council and adopted by the European Council in its spring summit.

Following adoption of the two pack regulations, member states must send their draft annual budgets to the European Commission by 15 October so that the Commission can give its comments on them and say whether they comply with the obligations under the stability and growth pact. The President of the European Council recently proposed the development of bilateral agreements with each member state, detailing a specific reform programme on the basis of the country specific recommendations by the Commission and further indepth review of the economy of that country. Together, all of these constrain the role of national parliaments in the budget process and policy setting in member states. To counter-balance this pitfall, steps could be taken in the area of inter-parliamentary co-operation and parliamentary scrutiny by national parliaments.

I will deal first with the area of inter-parliamentary co-operation and will later speak about how to improve parliamentary scrutiny by national parliaments. On inter-parliamentary co-operation, Article 13 of the treaty on the stability, co-ordination and governance of the Economic and Monetary Union provides that the European Parliament and national parliaments will together determine the creation of a conference of representatives of the relevant committees in order to discuss budgetary and other issues covered by the treaty. The parliaments of the founding member states, together with the European Parliament, put forward a proposal which has been endorsed by all the national parliaments, namely, that the conference comprise six members of parliaments of member states and 16 members of the European Parliament and shall meet twice a year. The conference of committee chairs of the European Parliament has proposed instead to hold a European parliamentary a week prior to the spring council so that representatives from the relevant committees of the national parliaments can be informed of the annual growth survey and share their views with the European Parliament. Then, a committee chairpersons conference will be organised by the country holding the rotating presidency before the June European Council on the basis of the country specific recommendations. Whatever format this conference may take - agreement has not yet been reached - it is important that it is workable and not so large it becomes inefficient, that positions on the conference include not only the chairpersons of the committees on finance and public expenditure but also members of the Opposition parties and other committees and that the inter-parliamentary meetings are held in due time to enhance national parliaments' knowledge and capacity to act in regard to the annual growth survey and the country specific recommendations, either in their adoption or implementation phase.

In addition, scrutiny of EU economic governance by national parliaments shall be improved and include ex-anteand oversight of the Governments' multi-annual strategies, stability and convergence programmes, national reform programmes and draft annual budgets which will be forwarded to the Commission in October; the Commission's annual growth survey, country specific recommendations and those regarding macro-economic imbalance procedures; the bilateral contractual arrangements that President Van Rompuy intends to sign with each member state and the activities of the European Central Bank and bank supervisory authority, among others.

In the second part of my presentation I will examine developments at European Union level in relation to political groups and their role, focusing on three initiatives by the European Parliament. These initiatives are the proposal for a modification of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage. This proposal has been in the pipeline for four years. The second report on the Legislature presented by Andrew Duff, MEP, was referred back to the committee. There is an apparent agreement on the election of 25 members of the European Parliament by a single constituency formed of the whole territory of the European Union from pan-European lists composed of candidates drawn from at least one-third of member states. However, the question of how to decide on the allocation of seats and the application of proportionality remain controversial.

The second initiative will be voted on the floor of the European Parliament the day after tomorrow. It is an initiative to improve the practical arrangements for the holding of the European elections into next year. This initiative recommends that, first, European political parties name their candidates well in advance to allow themselves to run an EU-wide campaign focused on European Union issues; second, national parties clearly state to which European party they belong and which person they support for Commission President; third, the name of the European political parties must appear next to the names of national parties on ballot papers and, fourth, that the candidate for Commission President of the party which wins the most seats be the first to be considered by the European Council with a view to asserting his or her ability to secure support of the absolute majority in parliament.

The third initiative revises the rules on new political parties, and per ordinary legislative procedure, is currently going through its first reading and under negotiation at trialogue meetings. This proposal includes two measures regarding European political parties. First, the possibility to register as a European political party or foundation and obtain a legal status base on EU law, which will not necessary to apply for EU funding. Second, an increase in the amount of donations allowed, including stricter sanctions to ensure compliance. I am happy to answer any questions members may have.