EUU, Alm.del - 2012-13 - Bilag 134: Brev til Van Rompuy om de nationale parlamenters rolle i EU

President Herman Van RompuyPresident of the European CouncilEuropean CouncilRue de la Loi 175B-1048 BrusselsBelgium

Parliament of DenmarkEuropean Affairs CommitteeChristiansborgDK-1240 Copenhagen KTel. +45 33 37 55 00Fax +45 33 32 85 36www.ft.dk[email protected]

Dear Mr. PresidentIn all European Union Member States we are currently struggling to tackle thesovereign debt crises that has shaken markets and sparked unprecedentedausterity and protests across Europe.As national parliamentarians we are genuinely worried about the Europeanproject and deeply engaged in the struggle to get our economies back on asustainable track - through the adoption of difficult structural reforms andsound fiscal policies.Therefore when Europe in the near future moves into a more integrated finan-cial, budgetary and fiscal union, we will find ourselves facing a very importantdemocratic challenge.Particularly the creation of the European Semester and the gradual move to-wards a fully fledged integrated budgetary and Economic framework will touchupon the very heart of national parliamentary democracy. But also a moreintegrated financial union call on national parliaments to reflect about their rolein anchoring the EU democratically, because supervision, crisis managementand resolution of banks are still very much organized along national lines.Despite the European Council’s recent call for strong mechanisms for demo-cratic legitimacy and accountability, there is a worrying lack of proposals as tohow the role of national parliaments can be strengthened more concretely.Members of national parliaments, being close to citizens, have a special roleto play in establishing links between citizens of our Member States and Euro-pean decision-making.For that reason members of 11 national parliaments gathered in Copenhagenon 26 November to discuss how a more integrated financial, budgetary andeconomic union could be accompanied with strong mechanisms for democrat-ic legitimacy and accountability. At our meeting we had an initial exchange ofviews on this question and various ideas were put on the table. We agreedthat further involvement of national parliaments in the debate is necessary.We would therefore like to discuss some of these ideas and proposals withyou as to how national parliaments could be more actively involved in furtherstrengthening the democratic legitimacy of the European Union.1/1

Finally we would like to thank you and the European Council for having in-cluded the important question of democratic legitimacy and accountability inthe debate about shaping a genuine economic and monetary union and notleast for your commitment in the interim report of 12 October to securing thepivotal role of national parliaments in this regard.We therefore look forward to hearing from you about how we can contribute tothis important debate about the future of Europe. We remain at your disposalfor any further information and would welcome to participate in any consulta-tions you may find appropriate.Yours sincerely

Ms. Eva Kjer Hansen,Chairman of the European Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament

Mr. Christophe Caresche,Vice-president of the EuropeanAffairs Committee of the NationalAssembly of France

Ms. Gabriele Molitor,Deputy Chairwoman of the Com-mittee on the European Union ofthe Bundestag

Mr. Ben Fayot,Chairman of the Committee onForeign and European Affairs ofthe Parliament of Luxembourg

Mr. Paulo Mota Pinto,Chairman of the European AffairsCommittee of the Parliament ofPortugal

Mr. Dominic Hannigan,Chairman of the Joint Committeeon European Union Affairs of theOireachtasMs. Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica,Chairwoman of the European Af-fairs Committee of the Parliamentof Latvia

Ms. Astrid Thors,Member of the Grand Committeeof the Eduskunta

Mr. Allan Widman,Chairman of the Committee onEuropean Union Affairs of theSwedish Parliament

Mr. Richard Hörcsik,Chairman of the Committee onEuropean Affairs of the Parliamentof Hungary

Mr. Edmund Wittbrodt,Chairman of the EU Affairs Com-mittee of the Polish Senate