The scrutiny procedure

Cooperation between the Hungarian National Assembly and the Hungarian Government on European affairs significantly influences how Hungary functions as a Member State within the European Union. The scrutiny procedure is regulated by Article 19 of the Fundamental Law, Sections 63–68 of Act XXXVI of 2012 on the National Assembly (hereinafter Act) and a separate chapter of Parliamentary Resolution 10/2014. (II. 24.) OGY on certain provisions of the Rules of Procedure (hereinafter Rules of Procedure).

The rules governing the scrutiny procedure are originally laid down in Act LIII of 2004 on Cooperation between Parliament and the Government on European Union Affairs and the relevant amendment to the parliamentary Rules of Procedure. Based on this legislation, practical experiences thereof the Act defines the parliamentary monitoring options regarding European affairs and establishes detailed rules for the scrutiny procedure.

The most important characteristic of scrutiny is that the Committee on European Affairs (hereinafter the Committee) is vested with decision-making power. The Committee is granted competences that are otherwise carried out jointly by the plenary and the standing committees as part of the legislative process. Centralisation is a further characteristic of the procedure, as the initiation and conduct of the procedure as well as the elaboration of the parliamentary standpoint fall under the authority of the Committee.

The participants in the scrutiny procedure are the Government and the Committee on European Affairs. It is also possible for standing committees to participate, as they have the option to formulate their opinion on European drafts under scrutiny.

The objective of the scrutiny procedure is for the Government to formulate the Hungarian negotiating position in cooperation with the Committee regarding the EU drafts selected by the Committee. A further aim is to provide parliamentary control of the (legislative) activities of the Government in the Council.

The subject of the scrutiny procedure is the Government’s proposal for position to be represented at the Council. The proposal for position is debated by the Committee, and the debate is followed by the adoption of a parliamentary standpoint in an in camera meeting. The Government acts on the basis of this standpoint in developing its position to be represented in the European Union decision-making process.

The task of preparing decisions also falls under the scope of the Committee, which includes selecting EU drafts for scrutiny while taking into account the annual legislative programme of the European Commission, the priorities of the current Council Presidency, and the information provided by the Government. The scrutiny procedure is to be launched for EU drafts which are relevant to Hungary from an economic, political or social point of view, or otherwise are outstandingly important in any other respect.

The scrutiny procedure proceeds as follows. The Committee decides to launch a scrutiny procedure at an open meeting at the initiative of the Chairman or two-fifths of its members.

Following the launching of the scrutiny procedure and at the proposal of the Chairman of the Committee, the Speaker of the National Assembly invites the standing committee responsible for the subject of the EU draft to develop an opinion on the EU draft; the Speaker also indicates a deadline.

The Government’s proposal for position regarding the EU draft selected for scrutiny procedure is sent by the Government to the Committee. Based on the Act, the Government is entitled to send the proposal for position concerning any EU draft and the Hungarian National Assembly is also entitled to request information on the position that the Government intends to represent on any EU draft.

The Government’s proposal for position includes:

• the summary of the content of the EU draft,
• the indication of the European Union's decision-making procedure to be applied in the course of making the decision,
• the expected timing at the European Union of adopting the EU draft, and preferably the starting date of negotiating the draft in the Council,
• the Government’s position on the EU draft, the objectives to be achieved in the European Union’s decision-making process, as well as the reasons of these objectives, and
• a presentation of the potential legislative tasks that result from the EU draft.

The Committee may request the Government to draw up an extended proposal for position containing, in addition to the elements specified above:

• the list of the Hungarian legal regulations and European Union legal acts in force pertaining to the subject matter of the EU draft,
• a short presentation of the expected economic, budgetary and social effects in Hungary of the EU draft,
• the opinions of the European Union institutions and of the Member States about the EU draft as known by the Government at the time of drawing up the proposal for position.

The Government sends its proposal for position to the Committee in due time to allow a scrutiny of the merits, with due account to the European Union’s decision-making agenda.

Prior to the meeting of the Council deciding upon the adoption of the EU draft, the Minister or Minister of State vested with functions relating to the subject matter of the EU draft, at the Committee’s request, appears before the National Assembly, and presents the Government's position to be represented at the meeting of the Council.

Following that, the Government elaborates its position on the basis of the standpoint of the Committee developed at an in camera meeting. If the Committee doesn‘t adopt until the deadline required a standpoint, the Government decides in its absence of such standpoint on the position to be represented.

The Government may amend its proposal for position in the light of the European Union’s decision-making process. The Government informs the Committee of the changes in its position. The Committee also has the right to amend the parliamentary standpoint.

Finally, the Government informs the Committee in writing of the decisions by adopted by the European Union institution working on an intergovernmental basis regarding which the Committee had adopted a standpoint or had specified properly.

Moreover, if the position represented by the Government was different from the parliamentary standpoint, it gives a report to the Committee. If the difference is related to subject matter that requires, according to the Fundamental Law, a qualified majority decision in the National Assembly, the Committee decides on the acceptability of the reasoning.

The scrutiny procedure is closed, as a general rule, when the Union legislative act subject to the scrutiny procedure is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The scrutiny procedure is also concluded with the termination of the National Assembly's mandate or with the decision of the Committee.