The Scrutiny of EU Documents in Bicameral Systems

In recent years, national parliaments have become more and more active in EU affairs. Particularly the Political Dialogue established by the Barroso Commission and the Early Warning System introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon provide additional opportunities for national parliaments to get involved in EU decision-making. In this paper, we will focus on the behaviour of the bicameral parliaments in the Political Dialogue and the Early Warning System. We will analyse whether two chambers of the same parliament have a similar approach with regard to the scrutiny of EU documents and to what extent a cooperation exists between the two chambers. We will examine the width and depth of the scrutiny of EU documents by the assemblies in order to verify if the two chambers play a complementary role. This paper aims to contribute to the research on parliamentary behaviour in EU affairs in general and the Early Warning System and Political Dialogue in particular by focusing on the links between two chambers in bicameral parliaments, a subject that so far has not received much academic attention.