Parliamentarianism and accountability of the executive power on a European scale: the experience of the European Parliament

Abstract

The chapter first summarises the main features and the itinerary of parliamentary government within the frame and experience of constitutionalism. It then links it with the gradual emergence of a European type or pattern of parliamentarianism embodied in the unique nature of the European Parliament. Apart from its role as legislator, one of the most relevant dimensions of the EP is its involvement in constitutional debates. The dynamics of the EP have also endured, proving its resilience, the major political impact of the simultaneous entry into force of both the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter and the outbreak of a series of episodes of crisis that started with the Great Recession (2009-2016), the ‘refugee crisis’, the eruption of populist forces leaning on Europhobic trends, the rise of so-called illiberal democracies among the Member State governments (notably Hungary’s and Poland’s), Brexit (first time ever that a long experienced MS chose to depart from the EU, leaving the European process) … and, last but not least, the challenging Covid-19 pandemic and the EU deep crisis, thereafter, causing a major distress both to the European integration and to individual Member States. Nevertheless, this has not stopped the EP in its persevering pathway to consolidate parliamentary behavioural patterns and standardised rules.