Europaudvalget 2013-14
EUU Alm.del Bilag 533
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CONCLUSIONS OF THE LI COSAC
Athens, 15-17 June 2014
1. The Bi-annual Report
1.1
COSAC welcomes the 21st Bi-annual Report prepared by the COSAC Secretariat and
warmly thanks the Secretariat for its excellent work. The Report provides extensive and
useful information on the future of COSAC, on interparliamentary cooperation and in
particular on cooperation between national Parliaments and the European Parliament and
examines how social and employment related policies can be better monitored, coordinated
and scrutinised at the European and national level. It also explored ways to enhance
democratic legitimacy and accountability in national budgetary, fiscal and economic policy in
the framework of the European Semester and focused especially on the issue of parliamentary
scrutiny over the "Troika's" (European Central Bank, European Commission and
International Monetary Fund) working methods in cases of countries under macroeconomic
adjustment programmes.
2. The Future of COSAC
2.1
COSAC welcomes the diversity of ideas expressed by a large majority of EU
Parliaments in relation to its future development with a view to adapting to the evolving
landscape of interparliamentary cooperation.
2.2
COSAC notes that EU Parliaments largely expressed the view that both policy and
institutional issues should be included on the agenda of future meetings. In this respect,
COSAC encourages future Presidencies to take into consideration the proposals submitted by
the Parliaments in the Bi-annual Report. COSAC welcomes the call for developing further
exchanges of information and best practices on the subsidiarity principle checks in the
framework of COSAC following the issuing of two "yellow cards". Furthermore, it takes
particular notice of the mechanisms put forward by the majority of the Parliaments and
primarily the discussion in COSAC meetings of the European Commission's response to a
"yellow card" and deplores the peremptory override of the EPPO yellow card by the
Commission despite the threshold being reached and passed by national Parliaments.
2.3
COSAC acknowledges the importance attributed to networking between members of
Parliament and therefore supports, amongst others, initiatives that enhance closer cooperation
between Members on specific issues of common interest, such as formal and informal
meetings of members of Parliaments. Recalling that parliamentary cooperation should be
open and inclusive, COSAC welcomes the inaugural meeting of Chairpersons of Committees
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of European Union Affairs of Parliaments of the EU South,
as well as the continuation of
existing regional meetings.
To facilitate this networking, the COSAC secretariat will
digitally distribute - and regularly update - an overview of the contact details of the Chairs of
the standing Committees for European Affairs of the national Parliaments.
3. Cooperation between national Parliaments and the European Parliament
3.1
COSAC notes with satisfaction that interparliamentary cooperation appears to be a
generalised practice involving the majority of EU Parliaments. It stresses, however, the need
for further improvement of interparliamentary meetings held at the premises of the European
Parliament and organised by the Presidency Parliament in the Member States to meet the
concerns expressed by a large majority of EU Parliaments.
3.2
COSAC recognises the importance of further enhancing cooperation between national
Parliaments and the European Parliament by fully exploiting the provisions envisaged in the
Lisbon Treaty. More specifically, it considers that there is significant room for improving
interparliamentary cooperation, especially at the level of informal dialogue. In this regard,
COSAC appreciates the recent ad hoc initiatives taken by the European Parliament (namely
inviting rapporteurs or specialised members of national Parliaments on specific topics/draft
proposals for discussion in Committee meetings in the European Parliament; inviting
members of national Parliaments to hearings in the European Parliament; inviting members
of national Parliaments to Committee enquiries in the European Parliament). COSAC
strongly supports the continuation and further development of such initiatives, as well as the
positive response to national
Parliaments’
requests for any form of dialogue on specific EU
issues with Members of the European Parliament.
4. Lisbon guidelines for interparliamentary cooperation
4.1
COSAC stresses that a large majority of EU Parliaments considers that there is a need
to update the Lisbon guidelines for interparliamentary cooperation, mainly to take into
account the establishment of new interparliamentary fora. Therefore, COSAC encourages
future Presidencies to submit a working document based on the replies to the COSAC
questionnaire as a useful input to future EU Speakers Conferences in relation to a possible
reflexion on the update of the Lisbon guidelines.
5. Democratic legitimacy and accountability in the budget process
5.1
COSAC is of the opinion that national Parliaments and the European Parliament must
ensure the democratic legitimacy of the Economic Governance in the E.U. and further
enhance their functioning and role on their respective competences. COSAC takes particular
interest in the proposals submitted by national Parliaments in order to enhance their
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participation in the process, identifying political dialogue as a very effective tool in this
process between the national Parliaments and relevant stakeholders and forms of
interparliamentary cooperation, and in particular the Interparliamentary Conference under
Article 13 of TSCG.
5.2
COSAC welcomes the initiative taken by the European Parliament to launch an
inquiry into the role and operations of the Troika with regard to the Euro area programme
countries.
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