The Gazette 1967/71

a say in how much they paid and for what, and that all decisions should be as publicly under stood as possible. When these principles were applied to the European Community it had to be said that there was very little of them there. On the European Parliament Herr Deringer said no parliament was capable of "handling all the details". He suggested the development of a border-line between principal questions which should be decided with the assistance of Parlia ment, and matters of detail which could be left to the Commission in Brussels, or the staff of the uouncil, with Parliament reserving power of veto. Mr. John Temple Lang, of Dublin, said insuffi cient attention had been paid to the possibility of national parliaments exercising more control over the activities of the governments in the Council of Ministers. "The E.E.C. involves a substantial transfer of legislative power away from national parliaments in the spheres under E.E.C. control, and these powers are transferred to the Council and Com mission, over which neither the national parlia ments nor the European Parliament have any real control. Therefore, as well as democratising the E.E.C. institutions themselves, means are needed to give national parliaments control over the conduct of their Ministers in the Council and over the way in which national governments choose to carry out E.E.C. directives. "The E.E.C. Commission could do more to facilitate control by national parliaments over their own governments in E.E.C. matters. For example how far national governments had a discretion in implementing particular directives, and how far they were bound to bring specified results about. This would help to ensure that major national decisions were not introduced by national governments under the guise of merely carrying out E.E.C. directives, without democratic debate. "Time limits for implementing directives should be adequate to allow national parliaments time to discuss implementing measures, and national parliaments should be careful not to hand over to their governments all powers needed to carry out E.E.C. directives without reserving parliamentary control. "National parliaments, simply because they were democratic bodies, should be treated as the allies of the Commission. Thev were at least as likely to further the cause of European integration as national governments. The European institutions should, therefore, encourage national parliaments

to set up special committees to deal with national participation in European Community affairs, both to discuss the attitudes of their represen tatives in the Council of Ministers and to consider how their governments proposed to carry out Community decisions. "Another element needing more democratic control was the rise of European organisations of employers, trade unions, and particular industries, and other pressure groups brought into being by the need to consider and advise the E.E.C. Com mission on drafts of measures it is preparing." In his opening address, the Taoiseach, Mr. Lynch, had indicated that the Government has not yet decided how to tackle the constitutional amendments necessary to allow Ireland to join the E.E.C. He referred to "a number of alternatives" open to Government but did not comment on them. Three alternatives were spelled out by Mr. Temple Lang in a background paper presented to the conference, and reported some time ago in The Irish Times. These are. a series of amend ments adjusting specific articles of the Constitu tion, a single amendment giving approval to entry into the E.E.C. and any constitutional changes involved, or a more general amendment vali dating any legislation necessary to give effect to any treaty promoting European unity. Senator Mary Bourke spoke also on Mr. Temple Lang's alternatives yesterday, and seemed to favour the second. Professor Bourke pointed out that because of the need to amend the Constitu tion, Ireland would have to be more democratic than any other country had been in adhering to the E.E.C. Ireland could only join if a Refer endum was carried by the majority of her people. The Taoiseach, Mr. Lynch, spelled out to the conference some points in the Irish Constitution which would need amendment, and added there were other provisions which a constitutional law yer would ponder carefully. He then commented : ". . . it would be surprising if the position were otherwise, in view of the fact that our Constitution has been in force since before the Second World War, and was drafted at a time when the devel opments which have led to the international situa tion as it exists today could not have been fore seen. Indeed, this is a classic demonstration that, in a progressive society, law must evolve to adapt to changing circumstances." Earlier Mr. Lynch had said : "Ireland is like Britain and unlike the other applicant countries and the existing member states of the Communi ties in having a common law system. Conversely, 89