According to the replies of the Portuguese Assembleia da República to the questionnaire for the 13th Bi-annual Report of COSAC (May 2010):
"A) REVIEW OF REGULATIONS ADOPTED
1. Have there been any regulations adopted by your
Based upon the existing legal basis (Portuguese Constitution and Law no. 43/2006, dated 25 August Monitoring, assessment and pronouncement on the process of construction of the European Union), and within the new dimension introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon to the role of national Parliaments, the European Affairs Committee approved a new procedure for scrutiny of European initiatives on 20 January 2010.
2. If no regulation has yet been passed, is any such regulation in the pipeline? Please specify the hierarchy of the provisions that are likely to be adopted in the short or medium term (Constitutional provisions, Legal Statutory provisions, Parliamentary Standing Orders ...).
It should be noted that the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic and the Law no. 43/2006, dated 25 August, provide the AR with the necessary legal basis to put into practice the Treaty of Lisbon. Notwithstanding, an amendment of Law no. 43/2006 could be foreseen in the near future, to enshrine some of the mechanisms introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon and to take up these new procedures.
The Rules of Procedure of the Parliament also contain some general rules regarding EU affairs, namely articles 35 d), 62, paragraph 3 c) and 261."
"1. MONITORING THE ACTIVITIES OF THE EU INSTITUTIONS
1a. Please indicate if the monitoring includes all the activities of all the EU institutions. If not, please specify which activities and which institutions will be subject to monitoring (e.g. only legislative proposals from the Commission).
The Parliament can, in the framework of its scrutiny procedure, monitor the activities of any EU institution and can “By resolution, (…) send the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council, the European Commission and, where applicable, the Council of Regions and the Economic and Social Council, a duly substantiated formal written opinion on the reasons why a draft legislative or regulatory text that has been brought to its attention (…), or any subsequent draft alteration thereto, fails to comply with the principle of subsidiarity.”
Therefore, the Parliament’s monitoring can include the activities of all EU institutions that it deems relevant for the scrutiny procedure, and can refer both to legislative or non-legislative proposals. A particular attention is dedicated to those activities that fall within the priorities chosen for the enhanced scrutiny (please see below 1c).
1b. Please indicate if the monitoring is comprehensive or applies selectively to certain topics or questions of particular national interest.
Following the entry into force of the Treaty of
The main change introduced in this new procedure reflects the experience gathered in the past few years and addresses the need to set priorities for the scrutiny. Therefore, it was defined that the EAC will, monitor and assess in a more close and substantial way a maximum of six European initiatives a year, which are politically deemed to be relevant for
As far as the scrutiny of the compliance with the principle of subsidiarity is concerned, any Parliamentary Committee may decide, at any moment, to draft a reasoned opinion about a legislative proposal. The EAC should be informed of this and the relevant Committee has 6 weeks to draft the opinion which shall then be sent to the EAC that has 2 weeks to draft the final report.
1c. Briefly describe the procedure and specify the parliamentary bodies involved.
The new scrutiny procedure sets forth the following mechanisms:
a) Normal scrutiny
- The EAC receives draft legislation and non-legislative proposals from the Commission, as well as the initiatives from other Institutions (under article 289, p. 4 of the TFEU and articles 2 of Protocol 1 and Article 3 of Protocol 2) which it distributes on a daily basis to the competent Parliamentary Commissions, for their information or opinion. (A table is automatically generated every two weeks, and may be consulted on the EAC website as well as being made available to the MPs sitting on the EAC);
- Whenever it is decided to draw up an opinion on a legislative initiative, the relevant Parliamentary Committee should inform the EAC and draw up its report within 6 weeks, as from the date on which the Portuguese version of the initiative is available. The report may deal with questions of substance, subsidiarity and proportionality. The conclusions should state separately each of those issues. The report is then forwarded to the EAC, which has 2 weeks to draw up its own Opinion.
- On the basis of the mentioned table and in the absence of monitoring by the relevant Parliamentary Committee, any Member of Parliament sitting on the EAC may require the committee to draw up a report, which will be distributed in accordance with the d’Hondt method – there will be a time limit of 6 weeks for preparation of the report.
According to article 7 of the Law 4372006, the Plenary is also involved in the scrutiny procedure, as follows:
“5 – When the assessment of proposals for Community acts of a rule-making nature is involved, once it has received the necessary formal written opinions the European Affairs Committee may draw up a draft resolution for submission to the Plenary.
6 – In all other cases the European Affairs Committee shall draw up formal written opinions on the matters on which it is called upon to pronounce itself, and may conclude such opinions with a concrete proposal or a draft resolution.
7 – The reports and formal written opinions issued by the European Affairs Committee shall be sent to both the President of the Portuguese Parliament and the Government.”
The Speaker is in charge of sending the opinions adopted to the EU institutions.
b) Enhanced scrutiny
- In drawing up its annual Report on the Legislative and Work Programme of the European Commission, each Parliamentary Committee will give notice of whether it intends to submit any legislative initiative or matter to enhanced scrutiny.
- amongst the suggestions put forward by the Parliamentary Committees, the EAC will take part in a enhanced scrutiny process for a maximum of 6 initiatives a year, selected by the EAC, from out of those suggested by the Parliamentary Committees. To this end the EAC, working in cooperation with the Parliamentary Committee in question, will draw up a broader work programme which includes analysis of the draft, a request for information from the Government, obtaining information from EU institutions, exchange of information with other national Parliaments, hearings (with the Commissioner proposing the draft, the Presidency of the Council, the MEP acting as rapporteur), public hearings, gather views from stakeholders, produce studies, among others;
- In the case of legislative initiatives, it is important that the work plan drawn up reflect the need to comply with the 8 week time limit for pronouncement on compliance with the principle of subsidiarity;
- The other initiatives, in which the EAC decides not to take a direct part, will undergo a normal scrutiny procedure, carried out solely by the relevant parliamentary committee or committees;
- If the annual pre-selection process does not result in 6 initiatives to undergo reinforced scrutiny, the EAC may resolve on which 6 initiatives to monitor.
c) Urgent scrutiny
- Whenever the EAC learns (through IPEX, reports from the AR’s representative in
d) Other Scrutiny Procedures
- In the case of initiatives other than those of the European Commission, the EAC shall decide on whether to conduct a scrutiny procedure or not and whether to invite the relevant Parliamentary Committee to produce an Opinion – setting time limits for this purpose.
1d. Do the regulations establish the Government's duty to report to the Parliament / Chamber? If so, in which terms?
According to the Law 43/2006, dated 25 August, for the purposes of the performance of the Parliaments’ scrutiny functions, there shall be a regular consultation process between the Portuguese Parliament and the Government (Article 1, paragraph 2).
Moreover, and according to Article 2:
“1 – When matters that fall within the sphere of the Portuguese Parliament’s reserved legislative responsibility are pending decision at European Union bodies, the Parliament shall pronounce itself thereon in accordance with the following paragraphs.
2 – Whenever the situation referred to in the previous paragraph occurs, the Government shall inform the Portuguese Parliament and ask it to issue a formal written opinion, wherefore the Government shall in good time provide the Parliament with information containing a summary of the draft or proposal, an analysis of its implications and, if one has already been set out, the position which the Government wishes to adopt.” (...)
On the other hand,, Article 5, paragraph 1 “The Government shall keep the Portuguese Parliament informed in good time about the subjects and positions that are to be discussed at European institutions, as well as about proposals that are under discussion and negotiations that are underway, and shall send the Parliament all the relevant documentation as soon as it is presented or submitted to the Council(...)”
Finally, Article 4 states that:
“1 – The Portuguese Parliament shall monitor and assess Portugal’s participation in the process of constructing the European Union, particularly by means of:
a) A plenary debate in which the Government shall take part, following the conclusion of the last European Council of each Presidency of the European Union; the debate in the first half of the year may also include assessment of the European Commission’s annual political strategy, and that in the second half of the year assessment of its legislative and working programme;
b) An annual plenary debate in which the Government shall take part, for the purpose of discussing and passing the annual report sent by the Government in accordance with Article 5(3);
c) Meetings between the European Affairs Committee and the Government in the weeks before and after the dates of European Council meetings, except when a plenary debate is scheduled in accordance with sub-paragraph a) above;
d) Joint meetings between the European Affairs Committee, the specialist parliamentary committee with responsibility for the matter in question and the member of the Government with responsibility therefore, in the weeks before or after the dates of European Council meetings in their different formats.” (...)
2. ENSURING COMPLIANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY
2a. Please specify the Parliamentary bodies in charge of ensuring such compliance.
The parliamentary bodies in charge of scrutinizing the compliance with the principle of subsidiarity are the Parliamentary Committees and the Plenary.
2b. Briefly describe the procedures involved.
Please see reply to 1c.
2c. Briefly describe the procedures for the participation of regional parliaments, if applicable.
When scrutinizing the compliance with the principle of subsidarity, and according to Article 3, paragraph 3, “When the formal written opinion refers to a matter that falls within the responsibility of the Legislative Assemblies of the autonomous regions, the said assemblies shall be consulted in good time.”
Competences of the Committee on European Affairs. For more information, click here.