Sub-National Parliaments in a Multi-Level Parliamentary System – Reform Processes in the German Länder in the Post-Lisbon Era

Abstract

The Lisbon Treaty endowed parliaments with new rights as part of an overall endeavor to democratize the EU. While most research focuses on the European Parliament and national parliaments, the role of sub-national parliaments in an evolving multi-level parliamentary field is so far widely neglected despite the fact that the Lisbon Treaty’s subsidiarity protocol takes the vertical division of competences in the member states into account and it recognizes a specific role of sub-national parliaments for the first time. Thus, most current research restricts itself to a two-level perspective and does not fully address the multi-level nature of the ongoing (re-)parliamentarization process.

The newly granted rights are of particular importance for those sub-national parliaments in federal states which are entrusted with legislative competences, above all the Germany Länder parliaments. Responding to the long-lasting overall trend of deparliamentarization and to the opportunity structure provided by the Lisbon Treaty and the Lisbon ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court, there are currently reforms underway in all German Länder.

The paper addresses the following questions: What are the parliamentary functions sub-national parliaments, i.e. the German Landtage fulfill in EU affairs? How do they respond to the opportunities in the post-Lisbon era? What implications do the observable changes in parliamentary functions at sub-national level have for the conceptualization of a multi-level parliamentary field? Finally, what lessons can be drawn for sub-national parliaments in general?

Keywords: European Union, Lisbon Treaty, Germany, regional parliaments, reforms, Europeanization