Brussels, 19/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - "(Co-)Governing after Maastricht: The European Parliament's Institutional Performance 1994-1999": this working paper drawn up by Andreas Maurer for the Political Series published by the EP's Directorate General for Research states that, over and above the achievements of Parliament in recent years within the codecision procedure, "informal, non-Treaty based" arrangements can also be an effective means of building a parliamentary democracy in the European Union.
The study observes the remarkable evolution of Parliament from a primarily consultative to a legislative body, although the EP "remains excluded from some policy areas such as trade or agricultural policy". "In contrast to judgements that the EP is lacking true legislative capabilities, our evaluation indicates that with Maastricht the EP became able to co-legislate with the Council … on a very significant amount (80%) of binding secondary EC legislation directly affecting citizens' way of living." The study goes on to note that the codecision procedure, contrary to popular belief, does not lead to serious delays in the final adoption of EC legislation. Over and above codecision, observes the author (a Research Associate at the University of Cologne), Parliament has increased its role through its committees of inquiry and its participation in the procedure of "investiture" of the European Commission, and has become "an increasingly important component of the EU's political system". The rapporteur, who describes in detail how Parliament applies the different decision-making procedures, sees development of this role as contributing to the democratic nature of the Union.
(European Parliament, Directorate General for Research, L-2929 Luxembourg).