From the Margins of European Integration to the Guardians of the Treaties? The Role of National Parliaments in the EU

Abstract

The role of national legislatures in the political system of the European Union (EU) first received serious political and academic attention in the mid-1990s in connection with debates on how to cure the EU’s democratic deficit (Norton 1995; Raunio 1999). Since then, the role of national parliaments has featured quite prominently on the research agenda of both parliamentary and EU scholars, with several comparative research projects on national parliamentary scrutiny of EU policies completed during the first decade of the new millennium (Bergman and Damgaard eds 2000; Maurer and Wessels eds 2001; Auel and Benz eds 2005; Szalay 2005; Gates 2006; Kiiver 2006; Kiiver ed. 2006; Holzhacker and Albæk eds 2007; O´Brennan and Raunio eds 2007; Tans et al. eds 2007; Barrett ed. 2008). Thanks to this lively academic debate, we are now in a much better position to evaluate how national legislatures are affected by European integration.