In an article published in the newspaper De Tijd, the member of the Flemish Parliament and the EA group in the Committee of the Regions Karl Vanlouwe, and MEP Anneleen Van Bossuyt have argued for greater involvement of Flanders in the EU decision making process and for a more prominent role of national and regional parliaments to ensure the EU takes the right decisions and regulates only where is needed and when it can do it more efficiently that national, regional or local authorities.
"Existing rules to check the compliance of EU regulation with the subsidiarity principle are too complex and do not allow Flanders to fully exercise its influence, nor has Flanders a separate seat in the EU meetings". Action at EU level can only be successful if a bottom-up approach is applied whereby national and subnational governments agree to cooperate. However, a top-down approach imposing on us rigid structures only widens the gap with the citizens, added the N-VA members.
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