EUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 376: Referat fra COSAC-formandsmøde og Trojka-møde i Zagreb 19-20/1-20

Europaudvalget 2019-20
EUU Alm.del Bilag 376
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC

Zagreb, Croatia, 19 January 2020

PRESENT AT THE MEETING

CHAIR: Mr Domagoj Ivan MILOŠEVIĆ, Chairman of the European Affairs Committee,

Croatian

Hrvatski sabor.

Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ,

Deputy Chairman of the European Affairs Committee, Croatian

Hrvatski sabor;

Ms Satu HASSI, Chair of the Grand Committee, Finnish

Eduskunta;

Gunther KRICHBAUM, Chairman of the Committee on EU Affairs, German

Bundestag;

Guido WOLF, Chairman of the Committee on European Union Questions, German

Bundesrat;

Ms Mairead McGUINNESS, First Vice-President, European Parliament; Mr Antonio TAJANI,

Chair of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs, 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 meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC

3. Debate on the draft programme of the LXIII COSAC

4. Approval of the outline of the 33rd Bi-annual Report of COSAC

5. Letters received by the Presidency

6. Any other business

PROCEEDINGS

1. Adoption of the agenda of the Meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC

Mr MILOŠEVIĆ welcomed the delegations of the Presidential Troika of COSAC (hereinafter

referred to as "the Troika"), and outlined the agenda of the meeting of the Troika, which was

adopted without amendment.

2. Approval of the draft programme of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC

Mr MILOŠEVIĆ outlined the topics on the programme of the meeting that would take place

the following day.

The first session would focus on the “priorities of the

Croatian Presidency of the Council of the

European Union” and would be presented by Mr Andrej

PLENKOVIĆ,

Prime Minister of the

Government of the Republic of Croatia.

The second session would deal with the European Union, national Parliaments and COSAC in

the context of the new institutional term of office, with

Ms Dubravka ŠUICA,

Vice-President

of the European Commission in charge of democracy and demography, and Ms Mairead

McGUINNESS, First Vice-President of the European Parliament in charge of relations with

National Parliaments, as keynote speakers.

EUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 376: Referat fra COSAC-formandsmøde og Trojka-møde i Zagreb 19-20/1-20

The Chair noted one change: Ms Ursula von der LEYEN, President of the European

Commission, would not be attending, and Ms

ŠUICA

would join on behalf of the European

Commission.

The draft programme of the meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC was approved without

amendment.

3. Debate on the draft programme of the LXIII COSAC

MILOŠEVIĆ

informed the Troika members that the LXIII COSAC would take place on 24

–

26 May 2020 in Zagreb. The Chair outlined the four sessions of the draft programme.

The first session would be presented by the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the

Government of the Republic of Croatia, Mr

Gordan GRLIĆ RADMAN,

and would focus on

the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the results of the EU-

Western Balkans Summit; the second session would deal with the Transformation of the Labour

Market and the management of demographic imbalances and labour mobility in the European

Union; the third session would address the distributive effects of the EU budget; the fourth

session would tackle the integrated maritime policy; whereas the fifth and final session would

look into the digital rights and responsibilities in terms of reconciliation of privacy and

accountability.

Ms McGUINNESS thanked the Chair for the warm welcome. She noted that there may be a

need for a session on the future of Europe in the COSAC plenary, as it would be timely. With

regard to the item on the budget and Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), Ms

McGUINNESS noted that it would be great to have a speaker from the European Parliament.

The European Parliament had a position on migration, which could be an item integrated in the

session on the labour market as well as the budget, so a contribution from the institution would

be ideal.

Ms HASSI agreed that the session on the labour market could integrate an item on migration.

She also proposed to look at the climate economy of Europe, as this too was linked to many

items on the agenda, including the aforementioned session on labour market, but also linked to

the EU budget and to maritime policy. It would therefore be good to consider the transformation

into a green economy and integrate this topic in the agenda.

MILOŠEVIĆ

agreed with this, and added that even the Western Balkans could be linked to

climate issues.

Echoing Ms McGUINNESS, Mr KRICHBAUM stressed that the Conference on the Future of

Europe should not be underestimated, and noted that it would probably also feature on the

agenda of the meeting of the Chairpersons in Berlin.

Regarding the Hellenic proposal to put migration on the agenda,

Mr KRICHBAUM said this

topic might also

be on the German Presidency…s agenda, but

in that case it would go beyond the

figures and look at the reasons why people were migrating. Mr KRICHBAUM said that this too

was connected with climate change, as people moved to other regions following the

desertification of certain areas.

Cf. Letter from Mr KAKLAMANIS, Chairman of the Special Standing Committee on European Affairs, to the

Presidential Troika, dated 13 November 2019.

EUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 376: Referat fra COSAC-formandsmøde og Trojka-møde i Zagreb 19-20/1-20

MILOŠEVIĆ

acknowledged the link between the movement of people and climate change

and agreed that the topic should be addressed in the future.

Mr HAJDUKOVIĆ proposed to include the Council of Europe in the Conference on the Future

of Europe especially in regards to migration,

as the Council of Europe…s committee on

migration, and their special representative, dealt with issues such as the dangerous crossings of

the Mediterranean or combatting human trafficking.

Mr TAJANI stressed that the MFF was central to all these issues, because money was necessary

to work on migration, climate change, and terrorism. The budget was the picture of the

European strategy, and a debate on the subject would therefore be crucial for all parties,

including national Parliaments.

Mr MILOŠEVIĆ explained these issues would certainly be covered; he reminded

colleagues

that Commissioner Johannes HAHN (Budget and Administration) would be present at the

meeting, and added that projections on the effect of cohesion funds on each Member State

would be obtained through Commissioner Paolo GENTILONI (Economy).

Ms McGUINNESS noted that Brexit was also important, and perhaps could be linked to the

Budget.

Mr KRICHBAUM agreed with Mr TAJANI and hoped to finalize the MFF negotiations within

the Croatian Presidency.

The draft programme of the LXIII COSAC was then approved without amendment.

4. Approval of the outline of the 33rd Bi-annual Report of COSAC

MILOŠEVIĆ

outlined the structure of the 33rd Bi-annual Report of COSAC noting that it

would be divided in three chapters, with the first chapter focussing on the upcycling of the input

provided by Parliaments/Chambers in their responses to the questionnaire for the previous

report; the second chapter analysing and contextualising the ways in which national Parliaments

set their priorities and cooperate with Union institutions, advisory bodies and agencies; and,

finally, the third chapter would be dedicated to the role national Parliaments played when

contributing actively to the good functioning of the Union.

The questionnaire would be circulated in the first half of February, with replies expected by

March 9th.

The outline of the 33rd Bi-annual Report of COSAC was thus approved.

5. Letters received by the Presidency

MILOŠEVIĆ

referred to the following letters received:

- Letters requesting invitation to attend the COSAC meetings were received from Ms

Sigríður Ásthildur ANDERSEN, Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Icelandic

Althingi;

Mr Hans-Peter PORTMANN, President of the Swiss EFTA-EU

delegation, Swiss

Assemblée fédérale;

Mr Tone Wilhelmsen TRØEN, President of the

Norwegian

Stortinget,

and Mr David SONGULASHVILI, Chairman of the Committee on

European Integration, Parliament of Georgia. Mr MILOŠEVIĆ

explained the invitations

were sent to all four parliaments.

EUU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 376: Referat fra COSAC-formandsmøde og Trojka-møde i Zagreb 19-20/1-20

- Letter from Lord KINNOULL, UK

House of Lords,

requesting a timeslot during the

meeting to briefly address colleagues on the occasion of the last time the UK delegation

would be participating at a COSAC meeting as an EU Member State.

- Second letter from Lord KINNOULL announcing the commitment of the UK

House of

Lords

to contribute to the co-financing mechanism up until the end of 2020, as well as its

wish to attend future COSAC meetings.

6. Any other business

Mr MILOŠEVIĆ

proposed an exchange of views on two topics: possible change and updates

of the COSAC meetings to, among other things, involve and engage with citizens, and the

voting procedure used for the adoption of contributions and conclusions of COSAC.

He proposed the idea of having parallel meetings during the conference, and floated the idea of

having town hall visits with citizen involvement, which would also provide better media

coverage.

As to the voting procedures, Mr

MILOŠEVIĆ

explained that the main issues to be resolved

were the majority adoption of individual amendments, and identifying what exactly should be

put to vote (i.e. amendments only or the compromise text).

Ms McGUINNESS, Ms HASSI and Mr KRICHBAUM agreed with the need to clarify the

voting procedure, and underlined the importance of refreshing the format of the COSAC

meetings and enlivening the debates.

Ms McGUINNESS explained that she would be mainly interested in just clarifying the current

rules. Ms HASSI agreed, adding that it would be more practical to just have the compromise

text voted on, but would be more logical to vote with a simple majority on each individual

amendment and then vote with a qualified majority on the whole text.

Mr KRICHBAUM noted how COSAC could at times be perceived as being too institutional

with discussions not always being fruitful, especially when delegations read out texts.

Therefore, encouraging free speech and real discussion was important. Mr KRICHBAUM was

open to the “town hall” idea, and extending the discussions beyond the plenary hall. He also

called for shorter contributions and conclusions to ensure shorter but more fruitful discussion,

while also reminding colleagues that a two-thirds majority was also an option when it came to

voting. Mr TAJANI underlined that while it was important to involve citizens, it should not

threaten

Europe…s model of democracy,

which was first and foremost that of a representative

democracy.

Mr KRICHBAUM suggested adding the language of the Presidency to the three working

languages of the European Union to side sessions of COSAC and anywhere outside the plenary

where there was no complete translation regimen. He also suggested to look into alternative

forms of discussions, such as, for instance, the fishbowl arrangement.

Before concluding the meeting, Mr MILOŠEVIĆ announced the Croatian Presidency…s

wish to

finalise the migration of the COSAC web site to the IPEX platform, and added that an action

plan would be circulated within the Troika.