EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

Europaudvalget 2021-22
EUU Alm.del Bilag 258
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC

ARIS

, F

RANCE

, 14 J

ANUARY

2022

PRESENT AT THE MEETING

CHAIR: Mr Jean-François RAPIN, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the

French

Sénat,

Ms Sabine THILLAYE, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the

French

Assemblée nationale;

Mr Ondřej BENEŠÍK, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Poslanecká

sněmovna,

Mr David SMOLJAK, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Senát;

Mr Nik PREBIL, Deputy Chair of the Committee on EU Affairs, Slovenian

Državni zbor,

Mr Bojan KEKEC, Chair of the Commission for International Relations and European

Affairs, Slovenian

Državni svet.

(Ms Roberta METSOLA, First Vice-President, European Parliament, and Mr Antonio

TAJANI, Chair of the Committee for Constitutional Affairs, European Parliament, were

unable to attend.)

AGENDA

PROCEEDINGS

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

2. Approval of the draft programme of the COSAC Chairpersons’ Meeting

3. Debate on the draft programme for the LXVII COSAC Plenary Meeting

4. Approval of the Outline of the 37th Bi-annual COSAC Report

5. Letters received by the Presidency

6. Any other business

EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

PROCEEDINGS

1. A

DOPTION

COSAC

OF THE AGENDA OF THE

EETING

OF THE

RESIDENTIAL

ROIKA

Mr Jean-François RAPIN, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the French

Sénat,

welcomed the delegations of the Presidential Troika of COSAC (hereinafter referred to

as "the Troika") and opened the meeting by welcoming Mr Ondřej BENEŠÍK, Chair of

the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Poslanecká sněmovna,

and Mr David

SMOLJAK, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Senát,

who were

participating in a formal meeting of the COSAC Troika for the first time.

Mr RAPIN then referred to the agenda of the meeting of the Troika, previously circulated

to all delegations, which was adopted without amendment.

2. A

PPROVAL OF THE DRAFT PROGRAMME OF THE

COSAC C

HAIRPERSONS

’ M

EETING

Mr RAPIN alluded to the programme of the meeting of the Chairpersons, which would

be split into three sessions.

The first session would focus on the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of

the European Union and would be presented by Mr Clément BEAUNE, Secretary of State

to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, responsible for European

Affairs.

The second session would deal with the new working methods within COSAC, a session

which would be chaired by Ms THILLAYE, and with an introductory statement by Mr

RAPIN.

The third session would be dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the euro

(achievements and future of the euro), with opening remarks by Ms THILLAYE, and a

keynote speech by Ms Christine LAGARDE, President of the European Central Bank.

The draft programme of the meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC, previously

circulated to all delegations, was approved without amendment.

3. D

EBATE ON THE DRAFT PROGRAMME FOR THE

LXVII COSAC P

LENARY

EETING

Mr RAPIN then referred to the draft agenda of the Plenary meeting of the LXVII COSAC,

scheduled for 4 and 5 March, at the

Assemblée nationale

in Paris, welcoming the presence

of Ms Sabine THILLAYE, Chair of the respective European Affairs Committee. Mr

RAPIN then introduced the five thematic sessions which would be covered during the

meeting:

● the first session would be dedicated to drawing up an initial assessment of the

French Presidency of the Council of the European Union;

EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

● the second session would discuss the European recovery plan and the exit from

the crisis;

● the third session would address the issues of the fight against climate change and

the energy transition;

● the fourth session would be dedicated to the Conference on the Future of Europe;

● and the fifth and final session would be a presentation of a progress report on the

internal working groups of COSAC, if an agreement on their establishment were

to be found later in this meeting of the COSAC Chairpersons.

Since there were no additional remarks on the draft agenda for the LXVII COSAC, Mr

RAPIN ended this debate by noting the support of the Troika to the proposed programme.

4. A

PPROVAL OF THE

UTLINE OF THE

ANNUAL

COSAC R

EPORT

Mr RAPIN presented the outline of the 37th Bi-annual Report of COSAC, which would

be divided into three parts: the first chapter would explore the role of national Parliaments

in the European Union; the second chapter would focus on the rule of law; and the third

chapter would address the Conference on the Future of Europe, which is due to hold its

final plenary session this spring.

The questionnaire would be sent to the delegations at the latest on 17 January, with replies

expected by 31 January, so that the report for the COSAC plenary meeting in early March

can be drawn up on time. Mr RAPIN explained that this shortened calendar derived from

the constraints imposed on the Presidency by the French national elections, scheduled for

spring.

The draft summary of COSAC's 37th Bi-annual Report was approved.

5. L

ETTERS RECEIVED BY THE

RESIDENCY

Mr RAPIN referred to the following letters received by the Presidency requesting

invitation to attend the COSAC meetings:

Mr Benedikt WÜRTH, President of the Swiss delegation for relations with the

European Parliament, Swiss

Assemblée fédérale;

Mr Masud GHARAHKHANI, President of the Norwegian

Stortinget;

Lord Charles KINNOULL, Chair of the European Union Committee, UK

House

of Lords;

Ms Maka BOTCHORISHVILI, Chair of the Committee on European Integration

of the Parliament of Georgia.

Mr RAPIN said that, following consultation with the Presidential Troika, invitations

would be sent to all the above Parliaments.

EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

A similar request was received from Mr Bjarni JÓNSSON, Chair of the Standing

Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Icelandic

Althingi,

but only regarding the COSAC

plenary meeting, to which a reply would be provided at a later stage.

Ms THILLAYE suggested that it should be clearly mentioned that these Parliaments

would attend COSAC in their capacity as observers, a distinction which was deemed

necessary namely with regard to the order of priority to be given in the speaking list for

the different debates, which should be attributed to the Parliaments/Chambers of the EU

Member States.

6. A

NY OTHER BUSINESS

Mr RAPIN started by alluding to the informal exchange held by the Troika on 11 January

and to the first discussions on the issue of the working groups that the Presidency proposes

to create within COSAC. He thanked the Chairs of the Presidential Troika for the support

shown for this proposal on that occasion and appreciated the suggestions made to improve

it. Therefore, Mr RAPIN recalled the main points agreed with regard to the establishment

of the two working groups proposed, and that would later be presented to the Chairpersons

of COSAC:

i) participation in these working groups will naturally be on a voluntary basis;

ii) the work of the groups will take place from February until the end of the French

Presidency. A progress report could be presented at the COSAC plenary session in early

March 2022. However, each working group could then continue its work after the plenary

session and produce a final report by the end of the semester;

iii) the creation of these working groups is in full respect by the independence of each

COSAC Presidency in determining its work, and it would be clearly specified that the

objective of the French presidency will be to lead the work of the groups in order to reach

conclusive reports by the end of June 2022. The incoming Presidencies will decide freely

to continue or not the existence of working groups according to their priorities and

objectives;

iv) furthermore, questions have also been raised about the binding or non-binding nature

of the working groups' conclusions. On this point, Mr RAPIN reiterated that the work of

these groups cannot lead to the adoption of conclusions or recommendations that would

be binding on COSAC. The plenary COSAC will be free to take up certain orientations

of the reports if it so wishes, by integrating them into the conclusions or contributions that

it alone has the competence to adopt;

v) Finally, and with regard to the concerns raised that these groups could duplicate the

working groups of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Mr RAPIN pointed out that

the Conference on the Future of Europe involves parliamentarians who are not necessarily

members of COSAC. On the other hand, he highlighted that COSAC, as a collective

emanation of the national Parliaments, must be able to conduct its own reflection on any

EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

subject, even if it is partly related to topics covered by the Conference on the Future of

Europe. The latter has set up working groups, one of which is on democracy. It is therefore

particularly interesting that the national and European parliamentarians can shed light on

two subjects that are part of this broad theme: the role of national Parliaments and the

values of the Union. The possibility of uploading the reports of these COSAC working

groups on the platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe was also discussed.

Ms Sabine THILLAYE referred to the procedure for deliberating on this proposal at the

meeting of the COSAC Chairs, recalling that the article 2.6 of the COSAC Rules of

Procedure provide for the possibility of establishing working groups through a vote "by

an absolute majority of the chairpersons". However, and given that this would be more in

line with the spirit of COSAC's work, the Presidency considers it to be highly preferable

that this decision could be taken by consensus.

Therefore, Ms THILLAYE informed that the session on the new working methods for

COSAC would be conducted with the aim of clarifying any remaining doubts or

questions, in order to reach a consensus, asking whether any of the delegations’

Chairpersons would be opposed to the creation of the working groups. In the absence of

opposition, the Chair would then note that the Chairpersons of COSAC decided by

consensus on its establishment.

However, if there were one or more formal objections to this project, Ms THILLAYE

considered that the decision would have to be put to the vote. She added that the

Presidency was prepared for this eventuality, namely planning to have a roll call of the

chairs so that everyone (whether present in the room or connected remotely) can indicate

verbally how they will vote: for, against or abstention. Nevertheless, Ms THILLAYE

raised two questions to which she would ask the COSAC secretariat to provide answers:

a) Should the voting rule be "one committee Chairman (or his representative) = one

vote" or should the votes be weighted according to the usual rule in COSAC, "one

Parliament = two votes"? In the case of a bicameral Parliament, each committee

Chairman would then count as one vote. If the Parliament is unicameral, the

committee Chairperson would count as two votes. This seems to be more in line

with the spirit of COSAC, but again the Rules on Article 2.6 are not clear;

b) Does the absolute majority required by the Rules of Procedure mean the votes cast

or all chairpersons? In other words, should abstentions be considered as votes

"against" or not? , adding that this was not the practice in the case of the two

French assemblies.

The Permanent Member of the COSAC Secretariat was given the floor to clarify, having

referred to the internal discussion held within the members of the Secretariat on these two

specific issues ahead of this meeting. On the first issue, the Permanent Member voiced

the interpretation that the voting rules should be the ones specified in the Rules of

Procedure for the adoption of Contribution and Conclusions (article 7.6), namely that

“each delegation has two votes”. Otherwise, bicameral Parliaments would have two votes

EUU, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 258: Referat af COSAC-formandsmødet 14/1-22 i Paris

(two Chairs voting) and unicameral Parliaments only one (one Chair voting). Concerning

the absolute majority, the Permanent Member shared the Secretariat’s interpretation that

this concept shall refer to all COSAC chairpersons.

Mr RAPIN thanked the Secretariat for this interpretation, namely corroborating what

should be then considered as the meaning of the absolute majority of COSAC

chairpersons. He also referred to the fact that, even if Mr Antonio TAJANI, Chair of the

AFCO Committee of the European Parliament could not be present today, he had

expressed his support for the above mentioned proposal to establish the two working

groups at the informal Troika meeting held on 11 January.

Mr David SMOLJAK, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Senát,

expressed his support for this proposal, as presented in the course of the present meeting.

Mr Ondřej BENEŠÍK, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Czech

Poslanecká

sněmovna,

also voiced support for this proposal, reiterating the condition that it does not

impose any obligation on the incoming Presidency to continue with the working groups.

Mr Nik PREBIL, Deputy Chair of the Committee on EU Affairs, Slovenian

Državni zbor,

alluded to the suggestions made at the informal meeting of the Troika on 11 January and

informed that he had no further comments to make.

Ms THILLAYE thanked all participants in the meeting for the constructive debate.

Echoing these sentiments, Mr RAPIN closed the meeting.