MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC

Budapest, 10 February 2011

PRESENT AT THE MEETING:IN THE CHAIR: Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK (Országgyűlés, Hungary)Mr Lajos MILE (Országgyűlés, Hungary); Mr Philippe MAHOUX (Sénat, Belgium); AndrzejGAŁAŻEWSKI (Sejm, Poland); Edmund WITTBRODT (Senat, Poland), Mr Miguel ÁngelMARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ (European Parliament); Mr Carlo CASINI (European Parliament)AGENDA:1. Adoption of the agenda for the meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC2. Approval of the draft agenda for the meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC3. Debate on the draft agenda for the XLV COSAC meeting4. Approval of the outline of the Fifteenth Bi-annual Report5. Letters received by the Presidency6. Any other business

PROCEEDINGS:

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

The meeting was chaired by Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK, Chairman of the Committee on EuropeanAffairs of the HungarianOrszággyűlés,who welcomed the Members of the Presidential Troikaand expressed the hope that the meeting would be fruitful. He presented the draft agenda of theCOSAC Presidential Troika meeting, which was adopted unanimously.

2. Approval of the draft agenda of the meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC

Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK presented the draft agenda for the Meeting of the Chairpersons ofCOSAC. The agenda was unanimously approved as proposed.

3. Debate on the draft agenda for the XLV COSAC meeting

Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK outlined the draft agenda of the XLV COSAC meeting to be held inBudapest on 29-31 May 2011. He informed that the first point of the agenda would be dedicatedto the priorities and the preliminary results of the Hungarian Presidency. He added that the PrimeMinister Mr Viktor ORBÁN had been asked to give a presentation on this point.The second point of the agenda would be devoted to the EU economic governance, the EuropeanSemester and the Europe 2020 Strategy. Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK notified the participants that theSpeaker of the HungarianOrszággyűléshad been informed in a letter that the President of the

European Commission – Mr José Manuel BARROSO, unfortunately, would not be able to attendthe XLV COSAC meeting. The European Commission will be represented by its Vice-PresidentMr Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ.As regards the point on the Rules of Procedure of COSAC, Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK underlinedthat the Rules of Procedure had to be updated and that those amendments should be confined totechnical rather than substantive issues. Therefore the Presidency did not expect a principaldiscussion on this topic. Mr HÖRCSIK added that before the XLV COSAC meeting theHungarian Presidency would submit to national Parliaments and the European Parliament itssuggested technical amendments. He also said that the Presidency could not rule out furtheramendments of the Rules of Procedure of COSAC, as for example changing the language regimeof the ordinary meetings of COSAC or the tenure of the permanent member of the COSACSecretariat. Finally, Mr HÖRCSIK stated that if there were questions or remarks concerning thispoint, they would be dealt with.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ agreed with the points made by Mr HÖRCSIK, but wonderedwhat Mr HÖRCSIK meant by “points of technical nature” and how he would define the meaningof the word “technical”. He noted that if such discussions were open up, then some parliamentsmight be willing to make more substantial changes. He thought it was possible, on condition thateverybody behaved in a responsible way. He went on to say that another way of updating theRules of Procedure was to send a questionnaire to national Parliaments and the EuropeanParliament, as any major changes in the Rules of Procedure of COSAC required a thoroughdiscussion.The fourth point of the agenda would be dedicated to the Conference of Speakers of EUParliaments to be held on 4-5 April 2011 in Brussels. The Belgian Presidency of the Conferencewill present its outcome, especially concerning the parliamentary scrutiny of common foreignand security policy, including common security and defence policy.Mr Philippe MAHOUX advised caution in placing on the draft agenda of the XLV COSACmeeting a discussion on the results of the Conference of Speakers in the area of common foreignand security policy, including common security and defence policy, as this might be premature.Instead Mr MAHOUX suggested amending the title of this point of the agenda to �Report on theproceedings of the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments”.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK agreed with the suggestion of Mr MAHOUX as it might be too early tospeak about the results.Mr Andrzej GAŁAŻEWSKI noted that at the COSAC meetings in Madrid and Brussels it hadbeen agreed that COSAC debates should focus more on political issues. Therefore he suggestedincluding a discussion on the situation in the Mediterranean in the debate on the State of theUnion during the XLV COSAC meeting in May 2011.Mr Carlo CASINI, referring to the debate on the State of the Union, proposed to invite a highlyregarded personality as a keynote speaker who would present an overview of the situation. Hesuggested inviting Mr Giorgio NAPOLITANO, President of the Italian Republic and a formerChairman of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK agreed that the keynote speaker should give an overview of the currentpolitical situation in Egypt and Tunisia, although he hoped that those problems would have been

settled by then. He said that COSAC meetings should focus on current issues and not only take aretrospective look at various events. For his part, he said that the presence of Mr JacquesDELORS would be a great honour for the Hungarian Presidency. Taking into account theincoming Polish Presidency, he proposed to invite the Polish Prime Minister Mr Donald TUSKin order to provide continuity.Mr Edmund WITTBRODT supported the idea of inviting the Polish Prime Minister Mr TUSK.He also suggested including in the General Policy Debate such issues as enlargement policy,concerns over the division of Europe into eurozone and non-eurozone states, the situation in theMediterranean, the economic crisis and the post-crisis situation.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK said that current affairs would be discussed in a debate on the State of theUnion during the XLV COSAC meeting in May 2011 as well.Mr Carlo CASINI suggested introducing a new point concerning the European electoralprocedure in the agenda of the XLV COSAC meeting. He said that the issue of establishing auniform procedure for elections to the European Parliament would have to be dealt with by everyMember State. He added that there was a need to advance on this path. He reminded that theTreaty of Lisbon provided a legal basis for the adoption of a uniform procedure, requiring theconsent of the European Parliament and therefore it might be necessary to also involve nationalParliaments and find out their positions with regard to this issue.Mr Carlo CASINI also proposed to discuss the freedom of religion during the debate on the Stateof the Union on 31 May.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK suggested putting the issue of the European electoral procedure on astand-by list. He admitted, though, that this was a very important topic which could not be putoff. He noticed that the debate on the freedom of religion, an issue close to him as well, wouldfuel a lot of discussion which required much time, and therefore it should also be put on a stand-by list. Finally, he said that if there was any time left – one of the proposed topics would beadded to the agenda of the XLV COSAC meeting but it would be unrealistic to add both.Mr Philippe MAHOUX said that discussing the European electoral procedure required somepreparative work, but it might be interesting to raise the issue in the future. Referring to theproposed debate on the freedom of religion, he said that another debate on the separation ofchurch and state should also be held.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ underlined that the issue of European electoral procedure was ofkey importance and that the European Parliament had the responsibility to take the initiative onit. Moreover, he noted that both the European Parliament and national Parliaments had to worktogether on this issue as it was a matter of urgency. He suggested that it might be useful toorganise Joint Parliamentary Meeting or Joint Committee Meeting during the Polish Presidency,dedicated to this topic. He stressed that such discussion could not be postponed until 2013.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK agreed that such a meeting was necessary and that it should be passed onto the Polish Presidency.The draft agenda was approved as amended.

4. Approval of the outline of the Fifteenth Bi-annual Report

Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK presented the draft outline of the Fifteenth Bi-annual Report prepared bythe Hungarian Presidency and the COSAC Secretariat.The delegation of the European Parliament suggested adding the following sentence to the end ofthe first paragraph: "In addition, both national Parliaments and the European Parliament areworking together to develop an effective and regular inter-parliamentary cooperation"The amended draft outline of the Fifteenth Bi-annual report was approved.

5. Letters received by the Presidency

Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK informed that the Presidency received two letters: one from the DanishFolketingand another from the PortugueseAssembleia de República.In their letter, the Chairwoman, Ms Anne-Marie MELDGAARD, and the Vice-Chairwoman, MsEva KJER HANSEN, of the European Affairs Committee of the DanishFolketingsuggested thatthe meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC include a point on the freedom of the media in theagenda of the XLV COSAC meeting in May 2011.Mr HÖRCSIK informed that during the meeting of the Extended Presidential Trio of theEuropean Affairs Committees held in Copenhagen on 24-25 January 2011 he had explained thedetails of the Hungarian Media Law. Currently, the European Commission is scrutinizingwhether the Hungarian Media Law is in compliance with the Audiovisual Media ServicesDirective, while the Commissioner Ms Neelie KROES has sent a letter to the Hungarian JusticeMinister Mr Tibor NAVRACSICS concerning the issue.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK said the Hungarian Government was committed, with the help of theEuropean Commission, to find a satisfactory solution to the problem. Prime Minister Mr ViktorORBÁN had declared to President BARROSO that if the European Commission found that theHungarian law violated any stipulation of the EU law, Hungary would amend it.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ agreed that a discussion on the Hungarian Media Law should beavoided during the XLV COSAC meeting because any discussion meant opening of a debate onthis issue. He said that it should be avoided that the COSAC meeting became “a meeting on themedia law” and therefore a short statement by the Presidency should be enough. Mr CarloCASINI agreed with this opinion and said that COSAC had more substantial issues to discuss.Mr Philip MAHOUX said that it was necessary to provide information on how the situation withthe Hungarian Media Law was developing, as doing otherwise would be a mistake. He agreed,though, that the Presidency should not open a debate on this topic. Mr Edmund WITTBRODTnoted that the explanations made in Copenhagen were satisfactory and agreed that no debate onthat matter was needed.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK informed that during the meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC hewould, as it was agreed in Copenhagen, make a short briefing on the state of play, but therewould be no debate on the issue.

In his letter, the Chairman of the European Affairs Committee of the PortugueseAssembleia deRepública,Mr Vitalino CANAS, drew attention to the proposed amendment of Article 136 of theTreaty on the Functioning of the European Union. He suggested that COSAC should be a forumto debate this issue.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ said that the European Parliament had to give an opinion on thisand national Parliaments had to ratify amendments to the Treaty.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK stated that the letter was received too late to be included in the agenda ofthe meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC. Besides, the European Council in March wasexpected to amend Article 136, so the debate at the XLV COSAC in May would lose itsrelevance. Consequently, it would fall within the remit of national Parliaments, and not ofCOSAC. Therefore he concluded that it was a �homework� to be done by national Parliamentsand a debate on this should not be opened at the COSAC meeting.

6. Any other business

Mr Edmund WITTBRODT suggested including in the agenda of the XLV COSAC meeting anexchange of views on EU delegated acts which are not subject to scrutiny by nationalParliaments. He explained that some "essential" elements that should be contained in thelegislative acts were instead passed by delegated acts and therefore could not be subject tosubsidiarity check. Mr WITTBRODT wished to discuss the experience and practice of nationalParliaments with regard to this issue.Mr Miguel Ángel MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ stressed that it was an important issue andsupported the idea. He said that there was a tendency to avoid parliamentary scrutiny.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK stated that agenda of the meeting was already heavy, and the issue shouldbe put on a stand-by list.Furthermore, Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK informed that the Hungarian Presidency would send a letterto the Chairpersons of the European Affairs Committees of national Parliaments, asking whetherthey wished to maintain the current co-financing mechanism of the COSAC Secretariat for theperiod starting on 1 January 2012. Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK expected the issues to be resolvedduring the upcoming Polish Presidency. He also said that the procedures concerning this issueshould be transparent.Mr Edmund WITTBRODT said that both the PolishSejmand theSenatwere of the opinion thatthe term of office of the permanent member of the COSAC Secretariat should be extended from2 to 4 years.Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK said that the proposals from national Parliaments would be summarizedand discussed under point 3 of the agenda of the XLV COSAC meeting.