This Policy Paper analyses the emerging control
over European Council meetings and Euro summits that is exercised by national
parliaments. The authors examine at what point in time control takes place,
whether it takes place in committee or in the plenary, how intensively that
control is exercised, and what model of control the individual national parliaments
follow.

There were 109 plenary debates and 180
committee meetings that dealt with European Council meetings or Euro summits in
the 27 member states between March 2011 and March 2012. On the basis of this
data, the authors identify seven models of parliamentary control and formulate twelve
recommendations that allow to combine room for manoeuvre of the head of state
or government with deeply informed oversight.

With respect to the implementation of Article
13 TSCG, the authors propose to create an inter-parliamentary conference for
budgetary and economic issues, following the example of the inter-parliamentary
conference for CFSP and CSDP.

This
Policy Paper is a synopsis of the main results of the study “Democratic Control
in the member states of the European Council and the Euro zone summits” which
TEPSA and Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute have written at the request
of the European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy
Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs,
IP/C/AFCO/IC/2012-012.