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To Mr. Martin Schulz

President of the European Parliament

Rue Wiertz 60

B-1047 Brussels

Binnenhof 1a

2513 AA Den Haag

Postbus 20018
2500 EA Den Haag

T 070 318 23 07

E cie.biza@tweedekamer.nl

www.tweedekamer.nl

date The Hague, 1 February 2016

subject On communication shortcomings regarding the transmission of the Proposal for a Council decision adopting the provisions amending the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage to the national Parliaments

Dear Mr. Schulz,

We the undersigned chairs of the competent Committees of national Parliaments of the European Union are writing you to express our concern for the way the European Parliament has transmitted its draft legislative proposal on the reform of the Electoral Act (EP-resolution T8-0395/2015, file number 2015/2035) to us.

You are aware, on 11 November 2015 the European Parliament adopted a resolution and a proposal for a Council decision, based on Article 223 TFEU, adopting the provisions amending the Act concerning the election of members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (electoral act reform proposal). This proposal constitutes a draft legislative act as specified in Article 3 of Protocol 2 to the Lisbon Treaty. According to Article 2 of Protocol 1 and Article 4 of Protocol 2 to the Lisbon Treaty, draft legislative acts originating from the European Parliament shall be forwarded to national Parliaments directly. Then, within eight weeks of a draft legislative act being made available to national Parliaments in the official languages of the Union, any national Parliament or chamber has a right to issue a reasoned opinion concerning the subsidiarity of the proposal.

In this particular instance, national Parliaments were notified of the adoption of the draft legislative act by the EP not just much later than the Council, but also on different dates to each other, sometimes without the actual text of the proposal, and in some instances only via the IPEX system for the dissemination of documents. In fact some national Parliaments have still not received the transmission letter either by hard-or soft copy.

On this occasion, for whatever reason, the European Parliament failed to send the legislative proposal to the national Parliaments within the provisions of Protocol 1 and 2 of the Lisbon Treaty. As a result, national Parliaments were hampered in the exercise of their rights under the Treaty.

We, the national Parliaments are requesting you to provide us with an explanation for the failure of the European Parliament to transmit this proposal as a draft legislative act, in accordance with the provisions of Protocols 1 and 2. Furthermore, we ask you to take appropriate steps to ensure that this situation does not occur again.

We look forward to receiving a response to this letter and certainly before Tuesday, 16 February 2016.

Yours sincerely,

Ms. P.A. DIJKSTRA Chairwoman of the Committee on the Interior Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal
Mr. J. TAVERNE Rapporteur European Electoral Act	Tweede Kamer	Netherlands
Prof. J.W.M. ENGELS Chairman of the Committee for the Interior and High Councils of State/General Affairs and the Household of H.M. the King	Eerste Kamer	Netherlands
Mr. O. BENEŠÍK Chair of the Committee on European Affairs	Poslanecká snĕmovna	Czech Republic
Mr Václav HAMPL Chairman of the Committee on EU Affairs	Senát	Czech Republic
Ms. D. AUROI Chair of the Committee on European Affairs	Assemblée nationale	France
Mr. J. BIZET Chair of the Committee on European Affairs	Sénat	France
Dr. R. HÖRCSIK Chair of the Committee on European Affairs	Országgyűlés	Hungary
Mr. M. McCARTHY, TD Chair of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht	Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann	Ireland
Ms. L. ČIGĀNE Chair of the European Affairs Committee	Saeima	Latvia
Hon. L. BUSUTTIL Chair of the standing Committee on Foreign and European Affairs	Kamra tad-Deputati	Malta

Ms. I. KLOC Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee	Sejm	Poland
Prof. M. ROCKI Chairman of the Foreign and EU Affairs Committee	Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej	Poland
Mr. B. DE VASCONCELOS Chair of the Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees Committee	Assembleia da República	Portugal
Ms. R. BASTOS Chair of the European Affairs Committee	Assembleia da República	Portugal
Sir W. CASH Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee	House of Commons	United Kingdom
Lord T. BOSWELL Chairman of EU Select Committee	House of Lords	United Kingdom