European parliamentarism should be understood as the mechanisms of interaction between national parliamentarism and interstate mechanisms of people’s representation, which are represented on the European continent by the establishment of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament (Europarliament) within the European Union (EU) framework. The operation of these bodies embodies the State’s national constitutional principles, the principles of respect for democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights at the international level. It is established that parliaments of most European states recourse to constant interaction which subsequently entails the establishment of powerful international organizations. Inter-parliamentary bodies are the unique forums of international cooperation, and it is these bodies that represent modern European parliamentarism. With a view to comparing the European interstate models of parliaments, the author marks out the main criteria which are the major characteristics of parliaments, in particular: the organization and structure of parliaments, the parliament’s legislative functions, the parliament’s financial powers, the mechanisms of parliamentary control, and the parliament’s powers in foreign policy. The author proves that unicameral national parliaments, traditional for many European countries, have become the main model for interstate parliaments. At its core, the structure of international parliamentary institutions and the organization are borrowed from the classical national parliament. However, according to other criteria, there is a significant difference from national parliaments.

The purpose of the article is to define the paradigm of today’s development and evolution of European parliamentarism.

The author ascertains that according to the classical parliament’s legislative functions, interstate parliaments are significantly limited in their powers, and as regards the lawmaking functions – the interstate representative forms differ significantly from national parliaments, and only the Europarliament currently has the fairly broad but, certainly, limited terms of authority to adopt binding decisions. It is proved that while borrowing the principles of operation from classical national parliaments, the interstate representative bodies do not accumulate all of the powers in their pure form. They rather become a forum for disseminating the principles of democracy, the rule of law and non-discrimination, with the use of political levers. Among all of the parliamentary institutions in European organizations, only the Europarliament in the EU, in cooperation with national parliaments, plays a decisive role in the shaping and lobbying of the European integration processes.

One of the most distinctive trends in the development of European parliamentarism is the processes characterized by the growing role of national parliaments in the facilitation and efficient enhancement of the European integration processes, in cooperation with the European Parliament. At its present stage of development and evolution, European parliamentarism is able to significantly contribute to the dissemination and development of democracy on the global scale, with due regard for national characteristics and historical experience.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Fedorova A ta Shynkarenko T, Polityko-pravovi aspekty diialnosti Rady Yevropy: тavchalnyi posibnyk [Political and Legal Aspects of the Council of Europe: Study Guide] (Feniks 2007) (in Ukrainian).

2. Nersesjanc V, Istorija politicheskih i pravovyh uchenij: uchebnik dlja VUZov [History of Political and Legal Doctrines: Textbook for Universities] (Norma 2004) (in Russian).

Edited and translated books

3. Van den Berg, ‘European Parliament and National Parliament: Are they Comparable?’ in Fifty years European Parliament Experience and Perspectives (Greek Foundation Parliament 2009) (in English).

4. Ameller M, Parlamenty. Sravnitel’noe issledovanie struktury i dejatel’nosti predstavitel’nyh uchrezhdenij 55 stran mira [Parliaments. A Comparative Study of the Structure and Operation of Representative Institutions in 55 Countries] (Lukovnikov Z per s angl, Progress 1967) (in Russian).

5. Yevropeiske pravo: pravo Yevropeiskoho Soiuzu: pidruchnyk [European Law: Law of the European Union: Textbook: in Three Books] (Muraviov V zah red, In Yure 2015) (in Ukrainian).

6. Zibrannia aktiv yevropeiskoho prava. Vyp. 1: Yevropeiskyi Soiuz [Collected Acts of European Law. Issue 1: European Union] (Smyrnova K uporiad, Muraviov V zah red, Red zhurn “Pravo Ukrainy” 2013) (in Ukrainian).

7. Zibrannia aktiv yevropeiskoho prava. Vyp. 1-2: Rada Yevropy [Collected Acts of European Law. Issues 1-2: Council of Europe] (Fedorova A uporiad, Butkevych V zah red, Red zhurn “Pravo Ukrainy” 2012) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

8. Guljaeva E, ‘Parlamentarizm kak politiko-pravovaja kategorija: problemy ponimanija i jetapy stanovlenija’ [‘Parliamentarism as a Political and Legal Category: Issues of Understanding and Stages of Maturing’] (2006) 13 Vestnik JuUrGU. Serija “Pravo” 61-3 (in Russian).