June–September 2021

Though public policy continued to be dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions began to ease as the vaccine rollout progressed. The volume of secondary legislation barely slackened, however, and the lack of parliamentary scrutiny was a cause of concern both to academic commentators and to parliamentarians. On 10 June, the House of Lords Constitution Committee published its third and final report on the constitutional implications of coronavirus and was clearly very unhappy with the course of events: ‘The Government has introduced a large volume of new legislation, much of it transforming everyday life and introducing unprecedented restrictions on ordinary activities. Yet parliamentary oversight of these significant policy decisions has been extremely limited.’

Cywilna kontrola nad służbami specjalnymi w Polsce z perspektywy trzech dekad funkcjonowania

Civilian Control Over Secret Services in Poland from the Perspective of Three Decades of Their Operation The article aims to analyze the current status of civilian control over intelligence services. The years 1990-1991 marked the beginning of a comprehensive transformation of this area of state activity. The article analyses the following issues: how hev the critical problems of civilian control over intelligence services been resolved across the three decades of their operation and to what extent the political system has been transformed in this area? The article consists of four main parts. The first discusses the concept of “special services” which signify specific institutional solutions in Poland. The following parts are organized according to the basic types of civilian control, i.e., executive control, parliamentary oversight, and independent oversight. The considerations focus on the institutional dimension of security. The article is analytical. It is prepared based on the available sources and literature.

The European Semester and Parliamentary Oversight Institutions Inside and Outside of the Euro Area

The European Semester is a challenge for national parliaments but also an opportunity to reform domestic oversight institutions. Drawing on data from all member states, this study examines the conditions under which national parliaments use this opportunity. Is Euro area membership a prerequisite for parliamentary adaptation to the European Semester and, if so, which further combinations of conditions account for variation among Euro area countries? The analysis suggests that membership in or close ties with the Euro area and institutional strength constitute <em>necessary conditions</em> for parliamentary adaptation. Combined with other factors—in particular, public debt exceeding the Maastricht criteria—these conditions explain reform in many cases. National parliamentary adaptation to the European Semester thus follows existing institutional divisions constituted by differentiated integration in the Euro area and uneven national parliamentary strength.

Pandemic Parliamentary Oversight of Delegated Legislation: Comparing the Performance of Westminster Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic is testing parliamentary systems of governance across the world, especially in relation to oversight of executive actions. Observers in multiple jurisdictions have already noted the proliferation of delegated legislation during the pandemic and the shortcomings in legislative oversight of the same. To date, however, no close analysis has been conducted of the way in which legislative oversight mechanisms have broken down during the pandemic. This paper provides such an analysis, using examples from Westminster systems adopting the ‘legislative model’ of providing extraordinary powers. Looking at individual examples from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the analysis seeks to identify and explain the failures, and relative successes, in different mechanisms for parliamentary oversight, including parliamentary scrutiny committees (pre-existing and ad-hoc), disallowance, and sunset clauses. Although primarily descriptive, the comparative approach analysis permits preliminary conclusions to be drawn as to the way each jurisdiction may improve its methods of parliamentary oversight of delegated legislation. These comparative lessons will be of use both during and beyond the pandemic.

The influence of Eurosceptic parties on the EU policies of member states

The aim of this research was to understand whether and how Eurosceptic parties might influence the EU policies of member states. It took the Netherlands and Hungary as case studies, focusing on the influence of Eurosceptic parties on the migration of those member states. For the Netherlands, the hard Eurosceptic PVV and soft Eurosceptic SGP were analyses in the period when the PVV was a parliamentary supporter of the VVD-CDA government (2010-2012). For Hungary, Jobbik’s influence on the EU policies of the Fidesz-KDNP government was analysis over the period 2015-2020. For the analysis, causal mechanisms were developed (using process tracing) from three literatures, namely: the contagion effect, coalition bargaining and parliamentary oversight. The results are summarised in the table below. The main points are that the PVV in the Netherlands, as parliamentary supporter, had a disproportionate influence on the government, since it threatened with withdrawing its support, thereby letting the government fall. The PVV did not have ministerial responsibilities (accountability), but was part of the weekly ministerial meetings. In the case of Hungary, the government, with its overwhelming majority, was able to take ownership of the issues that Jobbik proposed. Nevertheless, Jobbik’s more restrictive proposals are likely to have shifted the Fidesz government towards a more restrictive migration policy. Firstly, this research focuses on an urgent, and so far unanswered, question of what the influence is of Eurosceptic parties on the EU policies of member states. Secondly, in order to research this question, three literatures were used, namely: the coalition effect, coalition bargaining and parliamentary oversight. (Theoretical integration of these literatures to focus the research question.) Thirdly, this dissertation analyses Euroscepticism in Hungary and the Netherlands in detail and compares the policy implications on these two systems with each other. As a result, the conditions of Eurosceptic parties in policy are put into perspective, and the generalisability of the findings is touched upon.

The impact of the Covid-19 related emergency measures on the democracy and human rights in Armenia

This paper analyses the adoption, enforcement and parliamentary oversight of the emergency measures in response to COVID-19, and their impact on the democracy, human rights and good governance in Armenia.