The European Parliament and the “opinions” of national Parliaments: Subsidiarity scrutiny, “political dialogue” and the adaptation of the rules of procedure

National Parliaments forward opinions to the European Parliament in the context of the subsidiarity control procedure, as well as by reason of the political dialogue policy introduced by the European Commission in 2006. The paper aims at analyzing the procedures whereby the European Parliament receives and examines national Parliaments’ opinions, especially after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the modifications made to the internal rules of the European Parliament. Moreover the interesting case-study of the CAP reform has been taken into consideration, which not only has triggered a great number of reasoned opinions of national Parliaments, but also the organization of an inter-parliamentary meeting at which the national Parliaments and the European Parliament representatives have taken part. The national Parliaments’ opinions are particularly important because if the dialogue among the Union Parliaments and the European Parliament develops and strengthens, it can become a way to reduce the European Union’s democratic deficit.