B. IMPROVING REACTIVITY
National parliaments have eight weeks, from the date the draft is forwarded by the European Commission, to assess the respect of the principle of subsidiarity. The month of August is excluded from the calculation period. A consensus was reached within COSAC to also request the exclusion of European Institution recess periods, in particular those at the end of the year 7 ( * ) . This request must again be supported.
In addition, the eight-week time limit may seem short if the goal is a thorough examination of a text asking genuine questions relating to subsidiarity. This involves hearings and committee debate, including in a plenary session depending on the importance of the text. Under these circumstances, it may be possible to extend the time limit to at least 10 weeks.
In the event of reasoned opinion, the European Commission should also focus on responding more quickly a 12-week time limit should be set - with specific emphasis on the arguments raised by national parliaments. In recent years we have frequently noted that the responses to reasoned opinions overall have been less than satisfactory. COSAC shares the same opinion 8 ( * ) . Indeed, the Commission outlines the mechanism it proposes, but remains firm on its position regarding the assessment of the respect of the principle of subsidiarity, and does not really address the Senates objections 9 ( * ) .
Mr Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission and in charge of Better Regulation and Inter-Institutional Relations, announced, in a letter dated 11 July 2016 addressed to the Senate, that the Commission intended to undertake, where appropriate, in specific cases, an informal political dialogue with the national parliaments to discuss the content of the legislative proposal in question from the point of view of subsidiarity before making its decision to maintain, modify or withdraw its proposal. This initiative has not as yet been put into effect 10 ( * ) .
In particular, the Commission should, in the event of modification to a draft act raising concerns from several national parliaments, indicate how these comments have been taken into account and how the new text responds to them.
C. SCRUTINISING DELEGATED AND IMPLEMENTING ACTS
The delegated or implementing acts 150 implementing acts and 129 delegated acts were adopted in 2015 today are not forwarded to the national parliaments for the purpose of monitoring compliance of the principle of subsidiarity. Nevertheless, delegated or implementing acts constitute supplements to legislative acts which are subject to this monitoring. Ultimately, the subsidiarity check used by the national parliaments is only partial.
Under the terms of article 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Commission may be given powers to implement legally binding Union acts. But this possibility is only available if uniform conditions of implementation are needed . However, article 4 of the Treaty on European Union states that the Member States are the primary implementing authorities of European legislation, and that it is for them to take all appropriate measures, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions. Consequently, if the implementation of a legislative act can indeed be referred to the Commission, it should be established that the Member States are not best placed to do this. Currently, the subsidiarity check is possible for draft legislative acts which provide for this type of act. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the check then operates on the intention to use these acts and not on their content, in essence not available.
In recent years, the Senate has repeatedly adopted positions requiring such a check 11 ( * ) . It is regrettable that it was not included in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Lawmaking of April 2016, one aim of which is to better control the use of secondary legislation 12 ( * ) .
The deadline for the adoption of implementing or delegated acts is further justification for such an examination by the national parliaments. Thus, within the framework of the application of the 2010 directive on the deployment on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), the entry into force of the last delegated act could take place 12 years following the adoption of the basic act 13 ( * ) . Such a deadline questions the relationship between the legislators original intention and its actual implementation.
* 7 Contribution of the LIV COSAC, Luxembourg, 29 November - 1 December 2015.
* 8 LVI COSAC, Bratislava, 13-15 November 2016.
* 9 European negotiations: the Senate vigilant and listening, information report N° 365 (2016-2017) by Mr Jean Bizet, on behalf of the European Affairs Committee, 2 February 2017.
* 10 The letter is annexed to report N° 365 (2016-2017) cited above.
* 11 The latest date of 24 November 2017: European resolution N° 22 (2017-2018) on the reform of the Comitology Regulation (COM (2017) 85 final).
* 12 Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission Better Law-Making, of 13 April 2016.
* 13 Proposal for a European Parliament and Council decision amending Directive 2010/40/EU as regards the period for adopting delegated acts (COM (2017) 136 final).