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H.E. Donald Tusk

President of the European Council February 17, 2016

Dear Mr President,

As Chairs of European Committees of National Parliaments, we have followed with great interest the negotiations between the UK and the EU and in particular the proposed provisions to strengthen the role of National Legislatures.

There is no substitute for the democratic legitimacy provided by National Legislatures. But it is not only the role of the National Parliaments in bringing Member States closer to Europe and EU closer to our respective citizens - the National Parliaments have a vital role in transposing EU legislation into national legislation. And while each Member State has its own procedures for scrutinising EU legislation and respective Governments´ actions in the EU, we feel the need to participate more directly in EU decision-making processes, as we can see the possible impact of EU legislation in our respective States in a more personalized manner and get feedback from our electorate on various EU acts more directly and more operationally.

The idea of involving National Parliaments more closely in the EU legislative process through a “red card” system would give better opportunities for the Commission to double-check the necessity as well as the subsidiarity and proportionality aspects of its proposals, thus making the EU more effective and avoiding unnecessary legislative burden for our entrepreneurs and citizens. The threshold of 55% of votes by National Parliaments and the longer period available to act will strengthen substantially our powers of democratic oversight. It will make the instrument effective, easy-to-use and be something we will actively look to exercise constructively in the coming period as one of the tools for scrutinizing the EU legislative proposals.

We believe that National Parliaments could therefore give a substantial input to the competitiveness of the EU as well as play their positive part in bringing the Union closer to its citizens.

For all these reasons, we therefore support these new proposals for the stronger role to be taken by the National Legislatures in the EU decision-making process.

Yours sincerely,

Kalle Palling Gediminas Kirkilas Averof Neofytou

Chairman Chair Chairman

EU Affairs Committee Committee on European Affairs Committee on

Foreign and European Affairs

Riigikogu Seimas House of Representatives

Estonia Lithuania Cyprus

Marek Rocki Lolita Čigāne Malik Azmani

Chairman Chairperson Chair

Foreign and European Union European Affairs Committee Standing Committee on

Affairs Committee European Affairs

Senate Saeima House of Representatives

Poland Latvia The Netherlands