EP-National Parliament cooperation after Lisbon

Briefing 04-02-2011

The Lisbon Treaty has been described as the 'Treaty of Parliaments'. Not only does it increase the power of the European Parliament but it also signi­fi­cantly boosts the role of national parlia­ments in EU activities. Prior to Lisbon, national parliaments had a relatively weak position. To compensate for this, inter-parliamentary cooperation was established both between themselves and collectively with the European Parliament (EP) through a number of forums and mechanisms.