Le procedure di raccordo con l'Unione europea: un bilancio attivo, ma con qualche occasione persa

The essay provides a first assessment of the draft reform of the Italian Chamber of Deputies’ Rules of procedure from the point of view of the Chamber’s relationship with the European Union. The article argues that such reform has been very needed since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and even more after the enactment of Law no. 234/2012. However, so far the new prerogatives acquired by the Chamber of Deputies in the EU affairs have not led to the update of written rules of procedures, whereas the Committee on the Rules of procedure has stretched the interpretation of the existing rules as to provide experimental and provisional procedures in compliance with the new European and national legal framework; a practice that is criticized by the authors. After the two introductory sections, the article proceeds as follows: first, it analyses how the draft reform aims to regulate the implementation of the new information duties upon the executive, the scrutiny over the planning documents of the EU institutions, the parliamentary scrutiny reserve, and the consultation of the regional legislative assemblies, the latter option being only limitedly exploited by the reform. Secondly, the articles focuses on the design of the subsidiarity scrutiny in the Chamber and on committee hearings and highlights as questionable the choice to concentrate such a scrutiny only upon the Committee on EU Policies or on the Floor of the Chamber, upon request. In addition, objections are raised about the choice to disregard other crucial procedures in the draft reform, such as those on the revision of the EU Treaties and on the so-called ‘emergency brake’. Finally, the implementation of the new rules about the European legislative act of delegation (‘legge di delegazione europea’) and the European legislative act (‘legge europea’) is examined and compared to the practice of this first year of enforcement of Law no. 234/2012.