La partecipazione della Romania al processo decisionale europeo alla luce dell’esperienza del controllo di sussidiarietà nel c.d. spazio di libertà, sicurezza e giustizia

The essay analyzes the participation of the Romanian Parliament in the European decision-making process.
After a short introduction on the constitutional institutions of Romania and on its democratic transition from a socialist system to a democratic model, the study deals with the parliamentary procedures related to the subsidiarity scrutiny on European legislative proposals, focusing on the reasoned opinions adopted in the area of freedom, security and justice.
The paper offers some general considerations on the direct and indirect effects produced by the subsidiarity monitoring, underlining the progressive political empowerment of the Romanian Parliament in the European context. In particular, the increased role of the Parliament has partly influenced the structure of constitutional powers, strengthening the relation between the Chambers and the Government, which have to define a common position on European affairs. It confirms that in Romania the form of government has substantially a parliamentary connotation that prevails on the formal classification as a semi-presidential system. Moreover, the strengthening of the Parliament due the subsidiarity monitoring also gives the President of the Republic (which has some executive functions) the opportunity to exercise a significant political weight to counterbalance the Prime Minister’s leadership. The subsidiarity monitoring not only determines the enhancing of national Parliament in the European context, but it allows to redefine the relation between the Romanian institutions. Moreover, in this way, it leads to a more democratic balance of constitutional powers.