Is it necessary to deal with a matter at European level

In order to prevent Brussels from getting involved in too many issues, the national parliaments of the EU member states have made an arrangement to assess European proposals against the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The key question is whether or not it is necessary to deal with an issue at European level.

Subsidiarity
Sometimes the question is raised whether the European Union is involved in matters that could better be dealt with at national level. The principle of subsidiarity means that national parliaments decide whether a proposal should be put forward at European level or should be left to the member states. If the national parliaments are of the opinion that a proposal should not be put forward at European level, they can address the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council about it.

If one third of the national parliaments of the EU member states should lodge objections, the European Commission is shown the so-called "yellow card", which means that it has to reconsider its proposal. If more than half of the parliaments of the European Union should lodge objections, they can show the "orange card" and urge the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament to stop carrying out the proposal. All this is laid down in the Lisbon Treaty.

Principle of proportionality
The principle of proportionality means that national parliaments assess whether a proposal is further-reaching than necessary. If this is the case, national parliaments can lodge objections following the procedures mentioned above.

Every year the national parliaments make a selection of proposals to be assessed against the principle of proportionality. The Dutch Parliament will also make a selection of proposals from the European Commission's annual legislative and working programme to be checked against these principles. Furthermore, the House decides which proposals deserve special attention, in the form of the so-called parliamentary reservation procedure (see hereafter).