The European Parliament and Comitology: PRAC in Practice

Hardacre, Alan and Damen, Mario. (2009) The European Parliament and Comitology: PRAC in Practice. EIPAScope, 2009 (1). pp. 13-18.

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Abstract

The history of comitology – the system of committees in charge of controlling the Commission’s implementing powers – has often been characterised by institutional tensions.1 The crux of these tensions is the role of the European Parliament (EP) and its quest to be granted powers equal to those of the Council. Over time these tensions have been resolved through a series of inter-institutional agreements and Comitology Decisions, essentially giving the Parliament incremental increases in power. The latest step, which came in 2006, was the modification of the Comitology Decision of 19992 and the introduction of the new Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny (RPS), also known in English by its French acronym – Procédure de Réglementation avec Contrôle (PRAC). This is unlikely to be the last word because it still fails to grant the Parliament an equal footing and because the Treaty of Lisbon promises more change. However, the new procedure has been in use for over two years and evaluating the early experiences of the European Parliament with RPS is now possible. This article offers a preliminary assessment of how the RPS is working in practise, highlighting the unforeseen developments that have arisen in the course of its implementation and answering some of the questions that were posed regarding the way the RPS would work in the Parliament.

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