The story of the first ‘yellow card’ shows that national parliaments can act together to influence EU policy

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a so called ‘yellow card’ system under which national parliaments can force the European Commission to review an EU legislative proposal if one third of parliaments issue an objection. As Ian Cooper writes, the yellow card system was initially treated with scepticism by some commentators on the basis that it would be difficult for parliaments to co-ordinate sufficiently to meet the one-third threshold. He argues, however, that the experience of the first use of the procedure in May 2012 illustrates the potential for parliaments to act together and exercise real influence over EU policy-making.