Inter-parliamentary cooperation and relations between parliaments and the European institutions
The growing importance of national parliaments in the European Union (EU), following the Treaty of Lisbon, has made it necessary to deepen the mechanisms for interparliamentary cooperation, notably in the framework of the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments (EUSC), which meets once a year and from which the guidelines for interparliamentary cooperation emanate, and within COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union), which meets every six months and where members of the parliaments of the 27 Member States and the European Parliament have the opportunity to exchange information and discuss topics of common interest, including on ongoing legislative procedures at the European level.
In addition to these two conferences, national parliaments and the European Parliament participate in permanent interparliamentary conferences and meetings organised by the parliament of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council, either individually or jointly with the European Parliament.
Thus, at the 2012 EUSC in Warsaw, it was agreed to set up an Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP/CSDP). Later, and in order to implement Article 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union was established by a decision of the EUSC, gathered in Cyprus on 23 April 2013.The Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol (JPSG) was established in 2017 via a decision of the EUSC with a view to monitoring Europol's activities, specifically its impact on the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, in the light of Article 88
TFEU and Article 51
of the Europol Regulation. The first Interparliamentary Committee Meeting for the assessment of Eurojust took place in December 2020 with a view to increasing the transparency and democratic scrutiny of Eurojust in the light of Article 85 TFEU and 67 of the Eurojust Regulation. The parliament of the Member State taking over the Presidency of the Council of the EU every six months may also hold conferences with the chairpersons of some specialised committees, such as the committees on justice and home affairs, budget and finance, agriculture, etc.
The following videos, produced under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2021, briefly explain what these conferences are.
Inter-Parliamentary Conference for CFSP/CSDP
Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the EU
Meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol (JPSG)
Also in the context of interparliamentary cooperation, reference should be made to the network of national parliament representatives in Brussels ("antennas"), which, particularly following the implementation of the Treaty of Lisbon and the provisions on the role of national parliaments in the European legislative process, has formed an important network for the exchange of information on the positions to be adopted by each of the parliamentary chambers on European initiatives.
Similarly, the IPEX network provides information on the work of the 39 parliamentary chambers of the 27 Member States in the field of European affairs, as well as, for specific European initiatives, the work of scrutinising the European initiatives carried out by each of the parliamentary chambers, reflecting, at each moment, the work being carried out by national parliaments.
On the other hand, the European institutions themselves – the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council – have been developing and intensifying relations with national parliaments, taking into account the parliamentary opinions sent to them.
Above all, the European Commission has been engaged in an increasingly intense political dialogue with each of the 39 parliamentary chambers, inviting parliaments to express their views also on the substance of the initiatives proposed by this institution and replying to the comments expressed by national parliamentarians.
Interparliamentary cooperation has developed in recent years also with the
European Parliament, mainly through the organisation of numerous interparliamentary meetings, where national and European parliamentarians have had the opportunity to discuss matters on which both, in their respective parliaments, were working.
This perhaps is one of the most developed areas, both in terms of the intensity and content of interparliamentary meetings and exchanges of information on European affairs between EU parliaments, doing justice to the idea that the Treaty of Lisbon is, above all, the Treaty of Parliaments.
COSAC – Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union
COSAC is an interparliamentary body composed of six parliamentarians from each committee specialising in European affairs from the parliaments of the 27 Member States and the European Parliament and three observers from the parliaments of the candidate countries for accession to the EU. This Conference was held for the first time on 16 and 17 November 1989 in Paris, a few days after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
COSAC was formally recognised by the Protocol on the role of national parliaments annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam, which entered into force in 1999 and called for the strengthening of the role of national parliaments and their involvement in the Union's legislative procedure. The Treaty of Lisbon develops the content of this annexed
Protocol, establishing COSAC as the prime parliamentary forum for promoting the exchange of information and best practices between national parliaments and the European Parliament in relation to parliamentary scrutiny of European affairs. COSAC may also organise interparliamentary conferences on specific subjects.
Thus, the Protocol enshrines the role of COSAC as a mechanism for bringing together national parliamentarians and these and the Union institutions, contributing, therefore, to their participation in the debate on solutions at the European level for the problems faced by European citizens.
COSAC conducts its work at six-monthly meetings at the initiative of the parliament of the Member State holding the Presidency of the European Union and, at the end of each Conference, may submit a contribution to be sent to the European institutions on the legislative activity of the Union, among other European policy issues.
The European Affairs Committee of the
Assembleia da República has participated in COSAC meetings from the outset and has always participated actively in the development of the work and the evolution of the Conference itself.
The following videos, produced under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2021, briefly explain what these conferences are.
Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC
COSAC Plenary Meeting
IPEX – Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange
IPEX is an interparliamentary IT platform providing access to information on the work developed by the 39 parliamentary chambers in the context of European affairs. The use of this network provides direct access to important documents related to the parliamentary scrutiny of initiatives and decisions taken at the national and EU levels, as well as to other information related to the work of EU parliaments.
The origin of IPEX can be found in a recommendation from the 2000 Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments in Rome to establish an electronic exchange mechanism through which the exchange of information between national parliaments and the European institutions would be possible, while allowing access to important European documentation for the purposes of proper parliamentary monitoring of the European decision-making process. Moreover, with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the role of national parliaments has been strengthened, making it all the more necessary to exchange interparliamentary information on the scrutiny carried out by each of the parliaments on the initiatives of the European institutions.
Each parliamentary chamber manages the pages relating to the scrutiny it carries out and is responsible for publishing documents relating to the parliamentary scrutiny of proposals for legislative and non-legislative initiatives by the European Commission. They are also required to signal the relevance of the documents published by means of symbols and, in some cases, to provide short summaries in English and/or French of the documents uploaded in their language. The upload of documents, as well as the creation of news and the upload of other relevant documents, is done regularly by the IPEX correspondent from each parliamentary chamber.
The information made available provides users with the opportunity to find relevant information on the opinions of the various parliaments on specific dossiers. In addition to the documents mentioned above, IPEX also provides access to the work of the European institutions through the calendar available on the page, as well as access to the European Commission's replies to opinions sent by national parliaments and access to the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments page, among other possibilities. The
Assembleia da República is on the IPEX Board, which manages, under the authority of the Secretaries-General, the operation and development of this platform.