National Parliaments of the New Member Countries in the EU – Adaptation of the Slovene National Assembly to the New Challenges
National Parliaments of the New Member Countries in the EU – Adaptation of the Slovene National Assembly to the New Challenges

Summary/Abstract: In the process of democratization, the national parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe first needed to adapt to the democratic norms and principles set by Western European countries and organizations. Before an individual state could enter the EU, the parliaments had to align the entirety of their national legislation with EU legal standards. Further, national parliaments had to incorporate the supranational decision-making models practiced in the EU. Each of the parliaments of the 2004 entrant countries has chosen different models of participation in the decision-making process at the EU. The Slovenian example shows that its National Assembly (Državni zbor), long an active participant in country’s accession process, has chosen a model that secures it a relatively strong role in dealing with EU matters, similar to that of some Scandinavian parliaments. The National Assembly adopted an anticipatory examination of the EU draft legislation and put the main focus on the special Committee on EU Affairs. Statistical data shows that the Slovene parliament, during the last mandate (2004-2008) did not adequately use its full range of opportunities to become an active player in the process of formulating and passing legislation at the EU-level. The National Assembly further missed an opportunity to direct or influence the activities of government representatives at the EU-level. Thus, EU matters remained separate from the national context. On the basis of previous accession countries acclimation to the EU, it is possible to conclude that parliaments during their first mandates after the country’s entry into the EU are not yet able to develop a parliamentary-EU dimension. These assumptions indicate a need to prepare some ‘recipes’ to mollify problems for future EU member states.

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