The European Union must respect the sovereignty of its Member States!

The plenary session of the European Parliament adopted its report on the situation of national parliaments within the European Union on Wednesday. According to Fidesz MEP László Trócsányi, it is regrettable that the report is not objective, so it does not focus on the real problems that the national parliaments – arising from the expansive interpretation of the EU treaties – face in practice.

The situation of the national parliaments is a matter of utmost importance for European integration. The democratic legitimacy of EU-institutions ultimately rests on the plurality of national publics. “It’s a shame that the report is not objective, so instead of solving the real problems, it focuses on institutional reforms aimed at centralization, such as the endowment of the European Parliament with the right of legislative initiative, or the expansion of its rights related to the establishment of investigative committees,” said MEP László Trócsányi.

The EU institutions often go beyond the framework of the Treaties, or by interpreting individual provisions in a broad manner, they curtail the powers of the Member States and their national parliaments. A good example of this is that the higher education system is a purely national competence, yet the European Commission feels empowered to punish university students and teachers by freezing the resources of the Erasmus and Horizon programs.

“It seems that the EU institutions hold the Member States accountable for the application of the provisions of the Treaties based on aspects of political consideration, while they reserve a great deal of freedom for themselves when interpreting the EU treaties,” the MEP said.