1 MINUTES OF THE COSAC CHAIRPERSONS MEETING LONDON, 18 JULY 2005 Agenda: 1) Opening of proceedings and adoption of Agenda 2) Debate on the COSAC secretariat 3) Debate on Special Guest status (interpretation of Article 4.3 of the Rules of Procedure) 4) Debate on the parliamentary aspects of the future of the Constitutional Treaty 5) In the light of developments on the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, an exchange of views with Margot Wallström, Vice -President of the Commission and Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communications Strategy, on the topics of: the way forward for the subsidiarity mechanism, and possible second pilot project; and methods of scrutiny of the Annual Work Programme of the Commission 6) Any other business Proceedings of the sitting: JOINTLY   IN   THE   CHAIR:   JIMMY   HOOD   MP,   Chairman   of   the   European   Scrutiny Committee,  House  of  Commons;  and  LORD  GRENFELL,  Chairman  of  the  European  Union Committee, House of Lords. 1. Opening of proceedings and adoption of Agenda The chairman, Mr Hood, welcomed the delegates and presented the draft agenda. The agenda as shown above was adopted by the chairpersons. 2. Debate on the COSAC Secretariat The chairman, Mr Hood,introduced the topic and presented the paper   reviewing the functioning of the secretariat  that the Presidency had prepared and distributed to delegates in advance. An exchange of views took place between the chairpersons. Delegates thanked Mr Knudsen for the work he had done as the permanent member of the secretariat. The chairman, Mr  Hood, noted that  there  was  unanimous  support  among  the  chairpersons  for  the  work  of  the  secretariat  and agreement that that work had enhanced the effectiveness of COSAC. The Chairpersons agreed to recommend to COSAC that the COSAC secretariat should continue to operate beyond the two-year trial period. The  chairman,  Mr  Hood,  invited  national parliaments  to  propose candidates  drawn  from  their own officers for the post of permanent member of the secretariat, and to submit such proposals (together  with  a  CV)  by  fax  or  email  to  the  UK  Presidency  by  26  September  2005.  The

2 chairman reminded delegates that candidates should have experience of working with European affairs  and  be  able  to  speak  English  and  French.    The  Presidential  Troika  would  assess  the candidatures,   which   it   would   present,   together   with   a   recommendation,   to   the   COSAC Chairpersons in October. 3. Debate on Special Guest status (interpretation of Article 4.3 of the Rules of Procedure) The chairman, Lord Grenfell,introduced the topic    and presented the paper on special guests that the Presidency had prepared and distributed to delegates in advance. He reminded delegates that the  debate followed  discussion  at  the XXXIII  COSAC  in  May  in  Luxembourg  on  the  request from the Polish delegation, with the support of other delegations, for the Ukraine Parliament to be afforded a status at COSAC. Lord Grenfell informed the chairpersons that the UK had received requests from the Presidents of  the  Regional  Partnership  Parliaments  and  from  the  President  of  COSAP  for  COSAP  to  be invited  as  a  special  guest  to  COSAC  meetings.  The  UK  had  also  received  a  letter  from  the President  of  CALRE  asking  for  CALRE  to  be  invited  as  a  special  guest  to  COSAC  meetings and proposing a written agreement between COSAC and CALRE. An exchange of views took place. Lord Grenfell concluded that there was agreement among the chairpersons that under COSAC’s current Rules of Procedure COSAC presidencies could, after consulting the Presidential Troika, issue  invitations  to  the  national  parliament  of  Ukraine,  COSAP,  CALRE  or  other  outside institutions  to  participate  in  COSAC  meetings  as  special  guests  if  there  was  an  item  on  the agenda of definite clear interest to them. It would be important to consider invitations on a case- by-case basis. Lord Grenfell further concluded that there was agreement among the chairpersons that COSAC should avoid a permanent list of special guests, which would be inflexible. It was therefore important for Presidential Troikas to give particular attention in the future to the issue of special guests. The  chairpersons  agreed   to  recommend  to  COSAC  that  Article  4  of  COSAC’s  Rules  of Procedure should not be amended, because it already gave presidencies the necessary flexibility regarding special guests. Lord  Grenfell  said  that  the  UK  Presidency  would  write  to  the  President  of  the  Regional Partnership Parliaments, the President of COSAP and the President of CALRE to inform them of the outcome of the debate. Lord  Grenfell  explained  to  the  chairpersons  that  it  had  been  brought  to  his  attention  that  the wording of Article 4.2 in the German language version of the Rules of Procedure  differed from that in other language versions. When COSAC had amended the rules in 2004, the Publication Office  of  the  Official  Journals  had  by  mistake  inserted  an  older  version  of  this  Article.  The COSAC secretariat had recently contacted the Publication Office to correct this mistake. Having checked different language versions of the Rules of Procedure, Lord Grenfell also drew the  chairpersons'  attention  to  the  fact that the  wording  of  A rticle  4.2  in  the  English  version differed  from  that  in  other  language  versions. The  words  "applicant  countries"  and  "applicant country" in the English text should read "candidate countries" and "candidate country" in order to be in accordance with the other language versions. The UK Presidency undertook to pursue this issue.

3 4. Debate on the parliamentary aspects of the future of the Constitutional Treaty The Chairman, Mr  Hood, opened the  debate by explaining that the morning debate should be seen alongside the afternoon debate, when Commissioner Wallström  would be present. Whereas the  afternoon  debate  provided  the  chance  for  a  discussion  of  the  specific  issue  of  the  way forward for monitoring subsidiarity, the morning debate provided an opportunity for delegations to  share their view of  where  things currently stood regarding the parliamentary aspects of the Constitutional Treaty in its broadest political aspect. An exchange of views took place. 5. In the light of developments on the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, Exchange of views with Margot Wallström, Vice -President of the Commission and Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communications Strategy on the topics of. the way forward for the subsidiarity mechanism, and possible second pilot project; and methods of scrutiny of the Annual Work Programme of the Commission. The Chairman, Mr Hood, welcomed Commissioner Wallström  to Westminster and asked if she would like to make any opening remarks. Commissioner  Wallström   made  a  speech  that  covered  the  two  topics  of  the  debate.  [NB.  The text  of  Mrs  Wallström's  speech  to  the  chairpersons  is  available  on  the  COSAC  website: http://www.cosac.org/en/meetings/next/chairpersons/ ] The Chairman thanked the Commissioner  and  reminded  delegates  that  national  parliaments  already  had  power  under  the Amsterdam  Treaty  to  scrutinise  legislative  proposals  for  compliance  with  the  principle  of subsidiarity. The Chairman then opened the floor to the chairpersons and an exchange of views took place. Commissioner Wallström  replied to the views that had been expressed. 6. Any Other Business: Biannual Report The  chairman,  Mr  Hood,  reminded  delegations  that  the  date  for  submitting  replies  to  the questionnaire  for  the  4th  biannual  report  had  passed. He  asked  those  delegations  that  had  not done  so  already  to  submit  their  reply  to  COSAC  secretariat  as  soon  as  possible.  Due  to  the timetable  for  producing  the  report  before  the  XXXIV  COSAC,  it  might  not  be  possible  to include in the biannual report information contained in replies received by the secretariat after 2 September 2005. XXXIV COSAC The chairman, Mr Hood, told delegations that he was looking forward to the XXXIV COSAC in London on 9-11 October 2005. He hoped to see the chairpersons there and declared the meeting closed.