Second chambers: Spokespersons for regional parliaments’ interests in the Early Warning System?

Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, regional parliaments may be consulted by national parliaments in the framework of the Early Warning System to voice their opinion on European legislative proposals infringing the subsidiarity principle. Out of the eight Member States including regional parliaments, six States have a bicameral legislative system. This paper examines whether one of these two chambers, the second chamber, may be invested with the task of spokesperson of the regional parliaments’ interests. This question has to be analyzed, on the one hand, from a theoretical perspective, in light of the particularities of the second chambers, of their internal evaluation proceedings of European legislation and of the diversity of institutional mechanisms allowing regions to voice their opinions; and on the other hand, in analyzing the effective participation of both second chambers and regional parliaments in the Early Warning System.