Europaudvalget 2013-14
EUU Alm.del Bilag 90
Offentligt
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC
Vilnius, Lithuania, 27 October 2013
PRESENT AT THE MEETING
CHAIR: Mr Gediminas KIRKILAS, Deputy Speaker of theSeimasof the Republic ofLithuania and Chair of the Committee on European Affairs.Mr Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Deputy Speaker, Deputy Chair of the Committee onEuropean Affairs,Seimasof the Republic of Lithuania, Mr Dominic HANNIGAN,Chairman of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, IrishHouses of theOireachtas;Mr Ioannis TRAGAKIS, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs,GreekVouli ton Ellinon;Mr Konstantinos MOUSSOUROULIS, Vice Chairman of theCommittee on European Affairs, GreekVouli ton Ellinon;Mr Miguel ÁngelMARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ, Vice-President, European Parliament.AGENDA
1. Adoption of the agenda of the Meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC
2. Approval of the draft programme of the L COSAC
3. Presentation of the 20th Bi-annual Report of COSAC
4. Interview with the candidates for the post of the Permanent Member of the
COSAC Secretariat for 2014–2015 and proposal of the candidate to the
Chairpersons of COSAC
5. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the L COSAC
6. Letters received by the Presidency
7. Any other business
PROCEEDINGS
1. Adoption of the agenda of the Meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC
The meeting was chaired by Mr Gediminas KIRKILAS who welcomed the delegationsof the Presidential Troika of COSAC (hereinafter referred to as "the Troika"). Hereminded the Troika that the draft agenda of the Meeting of the Presidential Troika ofCOSAC was distributed on 28 August 2013 and proposed it to be adopted. The agendaof the meeting of the Troika was adopted as proposed by the Lithuanian Presidency.2. Approval of the draft programme of the L COSAC
Mr KIRKILAS presented the updated draft programme of the L COSAC, which wasdistributed to the delegations on 24 October 2013, and proposed it to be approved. Thedraft programme of the L COSAC was approved without amendment as proposed bythe Lithuanian Presidency.1
3. Presentation of the 20th Bi-annual Report of COSAC
Mr KIRKILAS presented the 20th Bi-annual Report of COSAC. Forty one Chambersprovided information and their views and positions for drafting the 20th Bi-annualReport, which consisted of three parts.Mr Miguel Ángel MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ expressed his satisfaction with the 20th Bi-annual Report. The answers of the Parliaments depended on questions and that is why,he said, the Presidency should be congratulated for drafting the questionnaire. MrMARTÍNEZ asked that ways of disseminating the 20th Bi-annual Report on a largerscale be considered as it contained a lot of valuable information.Mr KIRKILAS thanked the current Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat, MsLibby KURIEN, and the other members of the COSAC Secretariat for their work on the20th Bi-annual Report.Mr Ioannis TRAGAKIS also thanked the Presidency for the Report. He said that theexpectations of citizens should be considered. He stressed also the lack of awareness-raising and the domination of national politics over European issues, especially in thecontext of the economic crisis. Mr TRAGAKIS suggested discussing issues related tothe European elections, in particular changing voting systems and ways of attractingwider citizens' interest in European issues. Another important matter, according to MrTRAGAKIS, was the rise of Euroscepticism and of radical parties.Mr KIRKILAS thanked colleagues for their very valuable remarks and noted that manyof these issues would be addressed during the L COSAC.4. Interview with the candidates for the post of the Permanent Member of the
COSAC Secretariat for 2014–2015 and proposal of the candidate to the
Chairpersons of COSAC
Mr KIRKILAS noted that the term of the current Permanent Member of the COSACSecretariat, Ms Libby KURIEN, was coming to the end on 31 December 2013. Hethanked Ms KURIEN for her excellent work and the UKHouse of Commonsfordelegating Ms KURIEN to this post.Mr KIRKILAS stated that Letters of Intent concerning the co-financing of thePermanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat and related office costs for 2014-2015had been received from 40 Chambers of 27 national Parliaments.Mr KIRKILAS recalled the letters that were sent on 9 July 2013 inviting all nationalParliaments to submit their candidates for the post of the Permanent Member of theCOSAC Secretariat for 2014–2015 before 10 September 2013. The Presidency receivedfour recommendation letters with proposed candidates from the BelgianChambre desreprésentants,the MalteseKamra Tad-Deputati,the CyprusVouli ton Antiprosoponand the DutchTweede Kamer.Mr KIRKILAS drew attention to the fact that the DutchTweede Kamerpresented theircandidate only on 16 October 2013. He suggested that the Troika would interview this2
candidate taking into consideration the important political reasons for the delaypresented by the DutchTweede Kamer.Mr MARTÍNEZ did not object however he stressed he was surprised that the DutchTweede Kamerhas decided not to follow the rules presented by the Presidency. Failureto follow the rules could create a precedent for the future and later it would have someconsequences.Mr Dominic HANNIGAN did not object either and stressed that if the Dutch candidatewould be accepted, he should be treated on the same basis as all other candidates.Mr KIRKILAS concluded that there were no objections to the Dutch candidate.Mr KIRKILAS presented the background note on the Appointment of the PermanentMember of the COSAC Secretariat, the Guidelines for the recommendation of thecandidate for the Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat and the criteria forselection. To ensure fairness and transparency the four Chairpersons from the Chambersthat submitted candidates were invited to observe the interviews. Each candidate wasgiven 20 minutes for a presentation and interview. The selected candidate would beproposed to the Chairpersons of COSAC for appointment the following day.As there were no objections the proposed procedure was unanimously accepted.The candidates were interviewed following the order in which they submitted theirapplications: the BelgianChambre des représentants,the MalteseKamra Tad-Deputati,the CyprusVouli ton Antiprosoponand the DutchTweede Kamer.After the interviewsdeliberations took place between the members of the Troika delegations onlyin camera.Following the interviews and deliberations all participants were invited back into themeeting room. Mr KIRKILAS then announced the decision taken unanimously by theTroika to propose the candidate from the CyprusVouli ton Antiprosopon– MsChristiana FRYDA - to the Chairpersons of COSAC for appointment the following dayas the Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat for the period 2014-2015.
5. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the L COSAC
Mr KIRKILAS said that the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the L COSAC weredistributed on 14 October 2013 and revised draft Contribution and Conclusions weredistributed on 24 October 2013. Additional amendments to these two documents couldstill be presented until 12.00 p.m. the following day.Mr KIRKILAS proposed submitting two additional amendments to the draftContribution on behalf of the Troika: two new articles on the recent “yellow card” andone amendment on the digital agenda.Mr MARTÍNEZ stressed that the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the L COSACwere exceptionally clear and uncontroversial. He welcomed the very serious effort ofthe Presidency in drafting them. There were only a few minor amendments to them3
from Parliaments and he thought that draft Contribution and Conclusions of the LCOSAC would find general support.Mr TRAGAKIS expressed his full support for the amendments.Mr HANNIGAN also supported the amendments and proposed to add a technicalfootnote with a reference to the document to which the “yellow card” was raised.
6. Letters received by the Presidency
Mr KIRKILAS presented six letters the Lithuanian Presidency had received from:The PolishSenatregarding the meeting of the parliamentary EU AffairsCommittees of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.The LatvianSaeimaregarding the traditional informal consultations of theEuropean Union Affairs Committees of the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian andPolish Parliaments.The Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the EuropeanParliament Mr Carlo CASINI regarding his unavailability to attend the LCOSAC meeting.The Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliament of UkraineMr Vitaliy KALYUZHNYY regarding his unavailability to attend the L COSACmeeting.The Former President of the Republic of Poland Mr AleksanderKWAŚNIEWSKI regarding his unavailability to attend the L COSAC meeting.The Vice President of the European Commission Mr Maroš ŠEFČOVIČregarding the official reply to the Contribution of the XLIX COSAC.7. Any other business
No any other business.4
