Chamber of Deputies

Law 234/2012, which has been in force since 19 January 2013, regulates the participation of Italy in the framing and implementation of legislation and policies of the European Union.

Government's reporting obligations

Pursuant to Law No. 234 of 2012, the following transmission and qualified information obligations are incumbent on the Government vis-à-vis the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate:

• The transmission to both Houses of EU draft legislative acts, along with the relevant pre-legislative preparatory documents; notification of the date on which they will be debated; and, in cases of particular importance, an explanatory memorandum containing an assessment of the acts, their urgency and level of priority. The Government accordingly sends a memorandum, usually twice a week, to both Houses of Parliament, with a reasoned list of the measures that it deems to be of significant interest;
• The drafting of a technical report, to be produced within 20 days of forwarding the proposed EU legislation, in which the Government gives account of compliance with the EU principles on competences, of its likely progress towards approval, and of its potential impact on the legal order of Italy;
• The transmission of the European Commission's consultation documents and any observations submitted by the Government;
• The transmission of reports and background papers prepared by the Permanent Representation to the EU relating to: any meetings, including informal meetings, of the EU Council and its preparatory bodies; trilogues between the EU Parliament, the Council and the Commission; acts, draft acts or any other initiatives or matters concerning the EU; any pre-litigation and litigation procedures initiated against Italy;
• The transmission of a quarterly report on the financial flows between Italy and the European Union.

Law No. 234 of 2012 also requires the Government to provide the competent parliamentary bodies with:

• advance notice of the policy position that it intends to take at meetings both of the European Council and of the EU Council of Ministers.
  It should be noted that Law No. 238 of 2021 (relating to the adoption by Italy of European laws approved in 2019-2020) amended Article 4(1) of Law No. 234 of 2012 to ensure that the competent parliamentary bodies shall be briefed on a regular basis (rather than only on request as previously contemplated) ahead of meetings of the Council. It also extends the application of disclosure obligations to Eurogroup meetings and various other informal meetings.
  The law reaffirms that, under the respective Rules of Procedure of both Houses of Parliament, the competent parliamentary Committees can adopt, ahead of each meeting of the Council, policy-setting documents defining the principles and lines of government action to be followed in preparation for the adoption of the EU acts;

• on the outcome of European Council meetings and of EU Council of Ministers meetings within 15 days of their taking place;

• on initiatives or issues concerning the Common Foreign and Defence Policy (with particular regard to Defence) discussed by the EU Council of Ministers.

Since the final period of the 16^th Parliament, the Government, in the person of the President of the Council of Ministers (premier), in application of the provisions cited above, has informed both Houses of the position it intends to take at formal meetings of the European Council. The Government's statement of position is then debated and resolutions are adopted by Parliament. As of the 17^th Parliament, the Government also reports to the joint foreign and EU-policy committees of both Houses on the outcomes of each European Council meeting. As of the 18^th Parliament, the provision requiring the Government to report to Parliament in advance of sectoral EU Council meetings was implemented in some cases (before the 2021 amendment, the Government reported to Parliament at the request of the relevant parliamentary committees).

Annual reports

Law No. 234 of 2012 requires the Government to provide Parliament with:

• a report, due by 31 December each year, outlining the Government's orientations and priorities for the coming year; the Chamber of Deputies considers the report concurrently with the legislative programme of the European Commission and the programme of the Council of the EU;
• a final report, due by 28 February of each year, on the actions taken by Italy in the previous year in pursuit of its agenda, including actions undertaken in furtherance of the policies set by the two Houses of Parliament. The Chamber of Deputies considers the foregoing report concurrently with the European Delegation Bill (see below).

At the Chamber of Deputies, the reports are considered by all Committees, in relation to their respective areas of responsibility, which then issue an opinion, as well as by the EU Policies Committee, which submits a report to the Plenary. Debate on the Floor of the House concludes with the approval of policy-setting instruments for the Government.

The European Semester

The current amended version of Law No. 196 of 2009 on public accounting stipulates that, as part of the procedural requirements for the European Semester (the European Union's framework for the ex-ante coordination of economic policies), the Government shall promptly inform and consult both Houses of Parliament on national reform programmes and stability programmes. They constitute an integral part of the Economic and Financial Document, which the Government is required to submit to both Houses by 10 April each year.

The direct transmission of documents by European institutions

The Treaty provides for the direct transmission of the following documents by EU institutions to national parliaments:

• consultation documents prepared by the European Commission;
• all draft legislative acts, along with the amendments they have undergone during the legislative procedure;
• the annual legislative programme, the annual political strategy and the other planning instruments of the European Commission;
• the annual report of the European Commission on the application of the fundamental principles of competence delimitation;
• the annual report of the Court of Auditors;
• the agendas and results of the Council's work;
• the resolutions of the European Parliament.

The Government and European institutions forward a vast number of documents and acts to the Houses of Parliament. During the 17^th Parliament, for instance, around 43,000 official documents were sent to the Chamber of Deputies. As of 30 September 2022, the Chamber of Deputies of the 18^th Parliament had received 40,000 such documents.

Subsidiarity check of EU draft legislative acts

The Protocol on subsidiarity and proportionality lays out a specific procedure by which national parliaments verify that draft legislative acts of the European Union relating to subject-matters not falling within the exclusive competence of the Union comply with the principle of subsidiarity. In particular:

• each Parliament (or House of Parliament) can object to EU draft legislation on the grounds that it does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity, by issuing a reasoned opinion within the time limit of eight weeks from the date of transmission of the piece of legislation in question;
• if reasoned opinions make up at least one third of the votes attributed to national parliaments (or one quarter when the draft legislation refers to the area of freedom, security and justice), the European Commission shall re-examine its proposed legislation and may issue a reasoned decision to keep it unchanged, amend it, or withdraw it completely (the "yellow card" procedure). Each national parliament has two votes (in a bicameral system each House gets one vote);
• if the reasoned opinions of national Parliaments represent a simple majority (or more) of the votes attributed to them, but the Commission decides to keep its proposal unchanged, then the European Parliament (by a majority of votes cast) or else the Council (by a majority of 55% of its members) may decide that the proposal, being incompatible with the principle of subsidiarity, should not be examined further (the "orange card" procedure).

Each national Parliament (or House) may also submit an ex-post request to its own government to refer an EU proposal that it deems to be in violation of the principle of subsidiarity to the Court of Justice.

The Chamber's Committee on the Rules of Procedure has assigned responsibility for verifying the conformance of draft EU legislative acts with the principle of subsidiarity to the Committee on European Union Policies.

If this Committee issues a reasoned opinion on questions of subsidiarity compliance, the Government, a fifth of the members of the Committee itself or one tenth of the members of the Plenary may request that the Committee's opinion be put before the Plenary.

As far as consideration of draft legislative proposals of the European Commission by the Chamber of Deputies is concerned, policy-setting and scrutiny activities vis-à-vis the government and the political dialogue with EU institutions (see below) have largely focused on the substance of the said proposals rather than on the subsidiarity check.

Consideration of EU Acts

At the Chamber of Deputies, the EU's acts, draft legislative acts and the related preparatory documents made available by the Government or the EU institutions are referred for consideration to the Committee responsible for the subject-matter and, for its opinion, to the EU Policies Committee.

For the purpose of considering EU draft acts in accordance with the provisions of the Chamber's Rules of Procedure on the pre-legislative scrutiny, parliamentary committees may conduct hearings and fact-finding inquiries.

Once it has completed consideration, a Committee may adopt a final document that it sends to the Government, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission as part of the process of "political dialogue" (see below).

Political dialogue

In September 2006, before the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission instituted a system of "political dialogue," whereby it systematically sends its legislative proposals and consultation documents directly to national parliaments and invites their observations and opinions. Political dialogue, a procedure that is not contemplated in the Treaties, was introduced by the European Commission to give national parliaments a greater say in the formation of European policies and legislation, with a view to strengthening the democratic dimension of the EU.

The Chamber of Deputies conducts its political dialogue by sending to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council final documents, occasionally accompanied by other policy-setting documents addressing European matters and prepared for the Government. The documents are attached to a letter sent by the office of the President of the Chamber of Deputies at the request of the Chairpersons of the relevant Committees.

The European Commission responds to observations from national Parliaments within two months on average. Both the opinions of national parliaments and the responses of the European Commission are published online in a dedicated section of the European Commission website.

The European Commission has promised to shorten the time it takes to respond to points raised and remarks made by national parliaments and to improve the quality of its responses by making the European Commissioner in charge of a specific subject-matter directly answerable, especially when the points raised are of a specifically political nature.

Relations with the European Parliament regarding political dialogue and subsidiarity check

Starting in April 2017, the European Parliament has published all the documents it receives from national parliaments (both reasoned opinions and contributions to the political dialogue with the Commission) along with the working documents of its own parliamentary committees.

Parliamentary scrutiny reserve

Article 10 of Law 234/2012 institutes a parliamentary scrutiny reserve for EU legislative proposals or acts that the Government is required to bring before parliament. Either House of Parliament or the Government may opt to exercise this prerogative.

In the first case, when Parliament so requests, the Government must file notice of a parliamentary scrutiny reserve before the Council of Ministers; not until the scrutiny has been concluded may it proceed with the drafting of the acts within its remit. The second case arises when the Government itself invokes the parliamentary scrutiny reserve and informs Parliament of its decision.

In consequence of the opinion dated 6 October 2009 of the Chamber's Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Chairpersons of the relevant parliamentary committees may not issue a reserve request until consideration of a said legislative act has actually begun.

The reserve (which had already been introduced by Law 11/2005) has been invoked just three times: once in 2005, on the initiative of the Government, in respect of a proposal for a regulation establishing the Agency for Fundamental Rights; and twice in 2010, on the initiative of the Chamber's relevant committees, one in respect of a proposal to amend the regulation on the quality of statistical data in the context of the excessive deficit procedure and another in respect of a proposal for a regulation concerning the European citizens' initiative.

Relations with the regions and autonomous provinces

Articles 22-25 of Law 234/ 2012 establish the framework for the involvement of the regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano in the EU legislative process. Specifically, Article 25 establishes that regions and autonomous provinces can forward their observations on EU draft acts to Parliament, and ask it to verify their subsidiarity compliance.

Other fact-finding, policy-setting and oversight activities

In addition to the foregoing procedures for scrutinising EU draft legislative acts, the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber, also as a result of the opinions of the Committee on the Rules, specify the following with reference to the institutional activities of the EU:

• the EU Policy Committee and the Standing Committees of the Chamber of Deputies may schedule a debate, with the participation of the relevant Minister, in relation to the Council of the EU's agenda of discussion;
• the Parliamentary Committees may invite Members of the European Parliament and members of the European Commission and other EU institutions and bodies to provide them with information about EU policies;
• judgments of the Court of Justice and the Court of the EU relating to Italy are passed on by Government to the competent committees for consideration, which may result in the adoption of a document on the need for possible legislative initiatives.

The Europe section of the Chamber of Deputies website lists the judgments of the Court of Justice and the Court of the European Union that have been forwarded to Parliament.

The implementation of policy-setting instruments

Article 7 of Law 234/2012 stipulates that the Government shall ensure that the position represented within the Council of the EU or other EU institutions is compatible with the policy orientations of Parliament. Where the Government has not adhered to the policy-setting instruments prepared by Parliament, the President of the Council of Ministers or the relevant minister shall report with an explanation thereof to the competent parliamentary bodies.

Article 7 was tightened by an amendment made through Law 238 of 31 December 2021 (known as the "2019-2020 European Law") that replaced the word "consistent" with the more stringent word "compliant"..

Law 234/2012 also requires the Government:

• to consult Parliament in advance about agreements that contemplate new or tighter financial or monetary rules or that will have significant consequences for the public finances, and to ensure that the position it adopts when negotiating the agreements in question accords with the policy-setting documents issued by Parliament (as provided for by Article 5);
• to apply an "emergency brake" if both Houses have adopted a policy-setting instrument to this end, and demand that the question be submitted to the European Council (as per Article 12 of the same law).

Starting in May 2016, the Government has regularly sent both Houses a memo, which the relevant Minister is responsible for producing, reporting on the actions taken by Government to give effect to their policy-setting documents.

The appointment of Italian members to the EU institutions

Article 17 of Law 234/2012 requires Government to apprise both Houses of the nomination or designation of Italian members of the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank, and European Union agencies.

The parliamentary committees may demand to hold hearings with the appointees after these have taken office.