Brussels – March 2011: Following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, national parliaments of the EU Member States are involved in the EU legislative process through procedures designed to assess compliance with the principle of subsidiarity. This new mechanism raises several questions at the level of both EU law and domestic constitutional orders, especially in federal States where the participation of regional parliaments proves not easy to implement.

The book published by Professor Francis Delpérée, Member of the Belgian Senate, and Dr. Dopagne provides, with an emphasis on the particular situation of Belgium, the first comprehensive analysis of these issues, from a legal standpoint but also with respect to the rules and practice of national parliaments.

More generally, the book deals with questions turning around the various contemporary forms of interparliamentary cooperation within the EU. It contains concrete proposals for enhancing these forms of political dialogue and, as a result, advancing the democratic life in the Union as a whole.

Francis Delpérée and Frédéric Dopagne, Le dialogue parlementaire Belgique – Europe, foreword by Mr. Wilfried Martens, Brussels, Bruylant, 2010, 154 p. – www.bruylant.be