EUU, Alm.del - 2011-12 - Bilag 415: Referat af COSAC-møde og Trojka-møde i København 22.-24. april 2012

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSACCopenhagen, Denmark, 22 April 2012PRESENT AT THE MEETINGIN THE CHAIR: Ms Eva KJER HANSEN (Folketinget, Denmark).Mr Andrzej GAŁAŻEWSKI, Ms Alicja OLECHOWSKA, Ms Małgorzata SADURSKA, MrAndrzej SZTORC (Sejm, Poland), Mr Edmund WITTBRODT, Mr Marek ZIÓŁKOWSKI(Senat, Poland), Mr Averof NEOFYTOU (Vouliton Antiprosopon,Cyprus), Mr Miguel ÁngelMARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ and Mr Carlo CASINI (European Parliament).AGENDA1. Adoption of the agenda of the meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC2. Approval of the draft programme of the XLVII COSAC3. Presentation of the 17thBi-annual Report of COSAC4. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the XLVII COSAC5. Letters received by the Presidency6. Any other businessPROCEEDINGS1. Adoption of the agenda of the meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSACThe meeting was chaired by Ms Eva KJER HANSEN, Chairman of the European AffairsCommittee of the DanishFolketing,who welcomed the delegations of the Presidential Troika ofCOSAC (hereinafter referred to as "the Troika").The agenda of the meeting of the Troika was adopted without amendment.2. Approval of the draft programme of the XLVII COSACMs KJER HANSEN highlighted the debates that would be held over the next two days. Theguest speakers included the President of the European Commission and three otherCommissioners, the Prime Minister of Denmark, and Mr Malcolm HARBOUR, Chair of theCommittee for Internal Market and Consumer Protection in the European Parliament. Theagenda was focused on the Single Market.The draft programme of the meeting of the XLVII COSAC was adopted without amendment.3. Presentation of the 17thBi-annual Report of COSACMs KJER HANSEN thanked the COSAC Secretariat for their excellent work in producing the17thBi-annual Report of COSAC and invited the Permanent Member of the secretariat, MsLibby KURIEN, to give a short presentation of the Report.1

Ms KURIEN explained that the 17thBi-annual Report examined two questions: a) the extent towhich national Parliaments had been involved in the debate on the re-launch of the SingleMarket; and b) the different practices in national Parliaments relating to access to EU documentsand databases made available by governments. She then provided some more details about thecontent of the two chapters of the Report.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ welcomed that all Parliaments/Chambers had responded to thequestionnaire, as it showed that all members of COSAC were engaged in the issues. He said thatthe exercise of producing the report was developing well.Mr WITTBRODT said that the Report contained useful information. He added that, in future, itmay be useful to investigate the reasons why the threshold that would trigger a subsidiaritycheck had not been reached.4. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the XLVII COSACMs KJER HANSEN said that the Presidency had received amendments from the EuropeanParliament and the PolishSejmin advance of the meeting. If agreeable to the Troika, she wouldpropose a deadline for all other amendments to be tabled by lunchtime on Monday 23 April 2012in order to give sufficient time for translation, processing the amendments and giving notice toall delegations.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ supported this proposal, saying that it should be strictly appliedand become normal practice in the future.5. Letters received by the PresidencyMs KJER HANSEN suggested that in future this point of the agenda could be dealt with viacorrespondence before the meeting of the Troika. She reported that the Presidency had receivedthree letters, of which the Troika took note:A letter from Ms Ine M. ERIKSEN SØREIDE, Chair of the Standing Committee onForeign Affairs and Defence and Chair of the European Consultative Committee of theNorwegianStorting,asking to participate as a guest in the XLVII COSAC, to which apositive response was sent after consultation with the Troika;A letter from Ms Zanda KALNIŅA-LUKAŠEVICA, Chairperson of the EuropeanAffairs Committee of the LatvianSaeima,regarding a statement from the EuropeanAffairs Committees of the Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on theSingle Market and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; andA letter from Mr Česlovas Vytautas STANKEVIČIUS, Deputy Speaker of theLithuanianSeimas,regarding a statement from the European Affairs Committees of theParliaments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the opening of EU accessionnegotiations with FYROM.2

In response to questions from Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ and Mr WITTBRODT, Ms KJERHANSEN said that the letters would be noted but not replied to.6. Any other businessMs KJER HANSEN invited the Polish Presidency of the Conference of Speakers of EUParliaments to report on the outcome of the conference that had been held in Warsaw on 19-21April 2012.1Mr Andrzej GAŁAŻEWSKI said that the conference had discussed a number of topics includingthe parliamentary scrutiny of CFSP and CSDP, on which he would focus his comments. He waspleased to report that the conference had agreed to hold an Inter-parliamentary Conference onCFSP and CSDP as soon as possible to replace existing meetings of COFACC and CODACC. Anumber of outstanding issues from the meeting in Brussels in April 2011 had been resolved. Thedelegation sizes would be six for every national Parliament, 16 for the European Parliament andfour for parliaments with observer status. Two years after the first meeting, there would be areview of the conference and if necessary the rules of procedure would be modified.Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ praised the Polish hosts for their work in finding a compromise.He noted that the Conference would take place either in the country holding the Presidency ofthe EU Council or at the European Parliament premises. It would be prepared and presided bythe national Parliament of the Presidency country with the previous and the next presidencies, inclose cooperation with the European Parliament. He said that he may have difficulty explainingthe result to the European Parliament but hoped the debate would now rather focus on whowould represent the European Parliament.Mr GAŁAŻEWSKI said that the secretariat of this conference would be independent of theCOSAC Secretariat as it would be a separate body. Mr NEOFYTOU announced that the firstconference would be hosted by the Cypriot Presidency in the second half of 2012.In concluding the Troika meeting, Ms KJER HANSEN announced that the COSAC websitewould be updated as it was necessary to change the platform of the website. This would be doneduring the Danish Presidency as the website had originally been set up during the 2002 DanishPresidency.