In its 2024 report on the application of the subsidiarity principle, the European Commission takes the view that the threshold for the ‘yellow card’ system, which enables the national parliament of a Member State to alert the EU institution to the impact of a European legislative procedure at national level, should not be lowered.
At the end of 2024, the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) recommended reducing the number of votes allocated to the national parliaments to one quarter (compared with one third at present, i.e. 18 votes out of a possible 54), but the Commission believes that such a change would require “a treaty change”. In order to improve relations with national parliaments, it favours intensifying political dialogue with national parliaments.
In 2024, the proposal for a ‘BEFIT’ regulation to harmonise corporation tax in the EU received the highest number of opinions (six in total) from national parliaments, whereas seven votes are needed for the Commission to be required to explain the reasons for its legislative initiative in the form of a single response to all the national parliaments that have expressed an opinion.
Link to the annual report on subsidiarity: https://aeur.eu/f/ibk (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)