Abstract
In 1994, the British Prime Minister John Major asserted that “the European Parliament sees itself as the future democratic focus of the Union. But this is a flawed ambition, because the European Union is an association of States, deriving its basic democratic legitimacy through National Parliaments.” According to many – namely public opinions and commentators– the National Parliaments (NPs) are of prime importance in the European Union's (EU) architecture as they are the main repositories of the EU citizens' popular legitimacy.
For the first time in EU primary law, the Treaty of Lisbon introduced provisions on democratic principles in its Title II. According to Juan Mayoral this stems from the “main aim of enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the Union [set] in the Preamble”. Indeed, article 10 TEU provides with new democratic statements, while the new article 12 TEU strengthens the role of NPs as a response to the demands for more democratic legitimacy of the EU. The new rights conferred to NPs under the Lisbon Treaty are aimed at rendering the EU institutions more democratically accountable and are developed in Protocol number one on the role of NPs in the EU and Protocol number two on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.
