Substance and subsidiarity: the economic dimension of conflict in the early warning system

Abstract

The Early Warning System (EWS) allows national Parliaments in the EU to issue Reasoned Opinions (ROs) against proposed new legislation. If one-third of them do, a yellow card is triggered. In theory, the goal of this system is for Parliaments to police the subsidiarity principle, and not to address substance. This article confirms quantitatively that the EWS is also about substance by studying the co-issuance of ROs by Parliaments. It finds that similar levels of economic development, rather than ideological or geographical proximity, are most strongly associated with the co-issuance of ROs by pairs of Parliaments. To explain the importance of the economic dimension across topics, we suggest that proposals with an impact along economic lines may be especially likely to trigger opposition in the form of ROs. Increasing co-issuance over the period 2010–2018 suggests that Parliaments are learning to coordinate transnationally, although no yellow cards have materialized since.