European Parliament

The EU has been accused of having a "lack of respect for democratic parliaments", during a joint session of MEPs and MPs from parliaments across the EU.

The inter-parliamentary committee on 27 February 2012 focused on the European semester, the six-month cyclical period each year when member states' budgetary and macroeconomic policies are coordinated at EU level.

British Conservative MP Bill Cash - one of three delegates from Westminster - accused Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy of repeating the "mantra of more Europe like a Tibetan prayer wheel" whilst ignoring the "democratic legitimacy" of national parliaments.

However Mr Van Rompuy insisted that European economic integration was "our daily experience, not a vision of the future".

He claimed that national parliaments had "almost become European institutions", with decisions in one parliament watched with interest by the rest of the EU.

The European semester results in the publication of country-specific guidance to countries whose policies and budgets are out of line.

The previous cycle said that macroeconomic budgetary projections for 2012 for the UK were "slightly too favourable", and confirmed that inflation would remain "well above" the official targets.

The next set of guidance will be published in June, following assessment during the spring of the various national budgets.