EUU, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Bilag 237: Referat fra COSAC-møde i Tallinn 26-28/11-17

Europaudvalget 2017-18
EUU Alm.del Bilag 237
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC

Tallinn, Estonia, 26 November 2017

PRESENT AT THE MEETING

CHAIR: Mr Toomas VITSUT, Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee, Estonian

Riigikogu.

Mr Kristian VIGENIN, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European

Funds, Bulgarian

Narodno Sabranie;

Mr Edward ZAMMIT LEWIS, Chair of the Foreign and

European Affairs Committee, Maltese

Kamra tad-Deputati;

Ms Danuta HÜBNER, Chair of the

Committee on Constitutional Affairs, European Parliament.

AGENDA

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

2. Approval of the draft programme of the meeting of the LVIII COSAC meeting

3. Presentation of the 28th Bi-annual Report of COSAC

4. Interview with the candidate for the position of the Permanent Member of the

COSAC Secretariat for 2018-2019 and the proposal of the elected candidate to the

Chairpersons of COSAC for appointment

5. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the LVIII COSAC

6. Letters received by the Presidency

7. Any other business

PROCEEDINGS

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

Mr Toomas VITSUT welcomed the delegations of the Presidential Troika of COSAC (hereinafter

referred to as "the Troika"). In the absence of any objection, the agenda of the meeting of the Troika

was adopted without amendment.

2. Approval of the draft programme of the meeting of the LVIII COSAC

Mr VITSUT gave a brief outline of the programme of the meeting of the LVIII COSAC, and

informed the Troika members about the use, during the meeting, of online tools. The LVIII COSAC

would focus on five topics each of which would be debated under the guidance of a member of the

Estonian delegation as moderator:

Session I: The future of the European Union;

Session II: Bringing the European Union closer to its citizens - what are the best practices of

national Parliaments?

Session III: Digital Single Market - current developments of e-services;

Session IV: State of play - building an effective and sustainable Security Union;

Session V: The external dimension of migration - preventing and combating irregular

migration.

EUU, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Bilag 237: Referat fra COSAC-møde i Tallinn 26-28/11-17

The Chair also referred to a side event on E-democracy: digital instruments in service of

democratic process that would take place during lunch time the next day.

The draft programme of the LVIII COSAC was approved without amendment.

3. Presentation of the 28th Bi-annual Report of COSAC

Mr VITSUT invited the Permanent Member of the COSAC secretariat, Ms Christiana FRYDA, to

give an outline of the presentation of the 28th Bi-annual Report of COSAC, which was based on

Parliaments' replies to the related questionnaire circulated to delegations on 27 July 2017 with a

deadline of 18 September 2017 for submitting replies.

Ms FRYDA briefly referred to the three chapters of the Report. The first one dealt with the future of

the European Union; the second one focused on bringing the EU closer to its citizens; and the third

one concentrated on the Digital Single Market.

Before moving on to the interview phase, Ms Danuta HÜBNER, European Parliament, welcomed

the 28

Bi-annual Report and thanked the COSAC Secretariat for its work. She supported that, as

the Report addressed a number of highly politicised issues, it would be desirable to hold a political

debate on its results. She then suggested that the future Presidency Parliaments could add a political

touch and not treat it simply as a technical issue.

Mr VITSUT agreed that Ms HÜBNER s suggestion was a very good initiative. He recognised the

political nature of the issues addressed in the Report and invited the next Presidency to take the

suggestion on board.

4. Interview with the candidate for the position of the Permanent Member of the COSAC

Secretariat for 2018-2019 and the proposal of the elected candidate to the Chairpersons of

COSAC for appointment

Mr VITSUT noted that the term of the current Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat, Ms

Christiana FRYDA, was coming to the end on 31 December 2017. He thanked Ms FRYDA for her

excellent work and the Cyprus

Vouli ton Antiprosopon

for delegating Ms FRYDA to this post.

Mr VITSUT stated that Letters of Intent concerning the co-financing of the Permanent Member of

the COSAC Secretariat and related office costs for 2018-2019 had been received from all Chambers

of all 28 national Parliaments.

Mr VITSUT recalled the letter dated 14 July 2017, which was sent on 17 July 2017, inviting all

national Parliaments to submit candidates for the post of the Permanent Member of the COSAC

Secretariat for 2018 2019 before 29 September 2017. The Presidency received one candidacy from

the Maltese

Kamra tad-Deputati.

The Chair presented the background note on the Appointment of the Permanent Member of the

COSAC Secretariat and mentioned that, in order to ensure fairness and transparency the Chair from

the Parliament which submitted a candidate was invited to observe the interview. The candidate

would be proposed to the Chairpersons of COSAC for appointment the following day.

In the absence of objections, the proposed procedure was unanimously accepted.

EUU, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Bilag 237: Referat fra COSAC-møde i Tallinn 26-28/11-17

Mr VITSUT announced the decision taken unanimously by the Troika to propose Mr Kenneth

CURMI from the Maltese

Kamra tad-Deputati

to the Chairpersons of COSAC for appointment the

following day as the Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat for the period 2018-2019.

5. Debate on the draft Contribution and Conclusions of the meeting of the LVIII COSAC

The draft text of the Contribution and the Conclusions was, as Mr VITSUT explained, circulated to

delegations on 13 November 2017. Amendments received from delegations by the deadline of 20

November 2017 were, together with the initial text of the draft contributions and a number of

compromise proposals elaborated by the Presidency, included in a table. In addition, the

Presidency s compromise proposals were integrated in a draft text. Both the table and the draft text

were submitted to the Troika.

Following a detailed examination of each amendment proposed, the Troika, on the basis of the

Presidency's compromise proposals, drafted a modified text of the Contributions.

Regarding the draft text of the Conclusions, the Chair referred to the new part 4 proposed by the

Presidency and the national Parliaments of the Troika on the Task Force on Subsidiarity,

Proportionality and Doing Less More Efficiently following a letter sent to the Estonian

Presidency by Mr Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the European Commission, by which he

invited COSAC to appoint 3 members of national Parliaments to be part of a Task Force established

by Mr JUNCKER. Referring to the amendments on this part submitted by certain delegations after

the 23 November 2017, the Chair mentioned the guidance on the adoption of the Contribution and

Conclusions circulated by the Presidency and informed the Troika members that the Presidency

planned to open a debate on these during the meeting of the Chairpersons and to include them in a

table together with all other amendments received by noon the next day. The table was going to be

distributed to delegations some time before the meeting of the Chairpersons.

Mr VITSUT supported the proposed compromise proposal underlining that, as the Rules of

Procedure of COSAC did not foresee any procedure for appointing members of national

Parliaments to represent them in external fora, the most reasonable option would be for the Troika

to represent these in the Task Force.

All Troika members supported the proposal both on the Troika representing national Parliaments in

the Task Force and on the establishment of a working group, which would facilitate regular and

comprehensive discussions related to the work of the Task Force.

In this light, following the Troika s unanimous decision, the Presidency would present this option to

the Chairpersons the next day, while exploring another option in case no majority was established.

6. Letters received by the Presidency

The Chair referred to the following letters:

Letters from Mr Carles ENSENAT, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Andorra

Consell General,

Mr Jean-Charles Letter from Mr Jean-Charles ALLA VENA, Head of the

Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mr Christophe STEINER, Speaker of the National Council

of the Principality of Monaco and from Ms Mariia IONOVA, Deputy Chair of the

Committee on European Integration of the

Verkhovna Rada

of Ukraine, regarding

participation in COSAC. After consultation with the Troika, letters of invitation had been

sent out.

EUU, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Bilag 237: Referat fra COSAC-møde i Tallinn 26-28/11-17

Letter from Mr Jean BIZET, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the French

Sénat,

suggesting a discussion on competitiveness during the meeting of the LVIII COSAC. The

Chair mentioned the Presidency s letter of reply to Mr BIZET.

Letter from Mr Richárd HÖRCSIK, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the

Hungarian

Országgy lés,

on the conclusions of the meeting of the Committees on European

Affairs of the countries of the Visegrád Group.

An exchange of letters between the Estonian Presidency and the Chair of the IPEX Board on

creating a synergy between the IPEX platform and the COSAC website.

Letter from the Clerk of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs of the Irish

Oireachtas

on the Committee noting the expiration of the second term of office of the

Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat.

Letter from Ms Regina BASTOS, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the

Portuguese

Assembleia da República,

about her inability to participate in the meeting of the

LVIII COSAC.

Letter from Mr Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the European Commission, inviting

COSAC to nominate members of national Parliaments to be part in the Task Force on

Subsidiarity, Proportionality and Doing Less More Efficiently . The issue had already been

addressed under the point on the debate on the Conclusions of the meeting.

Letter from Mr BIZET offering his candidacy to the abovementioned Task Force. The issue

had already been addressed under the point on the debate on the Conclusions of the meeting.

7. Any other business

No other business.