Parliamentary scrutiny of the European Commission : implementation of the Treaty provisions : European implementation assessment

The Treaties provide the European Parliament with various opportunities to exercise its powers of political oversight of the European Commission and its actions. The European Parliament's application of these prerogatives increases the democratic legitimacy of the European Union, and the transparency and accountability of the European executive. This study examines the status quo of the European Parliament's powers of scrutiny over the European Commission. The cases examined pertain mainly to electoral and institutional issues, motions of censure, parliamentary questions, inquiry committees and special parliamentary committees and reporting, consultation and provision of information. It also touches upon scrutiny in budgetary issues, scrutiny of delegated acts, scrutiny in the legislative procedure, legal proceedings and the EU's external relations.