Europaudvalget 2023-24
EUU Alm.del Bilag 379
Offentligt
Ms. Eliane Tillieux
Speaker of the House of Representatives and Co-Chair of
the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs
Mr. Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven
Senator and Co-Chair of
the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs
Dear Speaker Tillieux and Senator Van Goidsenhoven,
As you may have understood, the Council Secretariat is currently considering
revoking the access of national parliaments to the Delegates Portal system.
On 9 February, we have sent out a letter to the Council Secretariat on behalf
of 23 chambers of national parliaments of member states of the European
Union. The Belgian Presidency (Ms. Hadja Lahbib), the Executive Vice
President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight in the European
Commission (Mr. Maroš Šefčovič) and the Committee on Constitutional
Affairs in the European Parliament have received a copy of the letter.
In that letter (attached), we point out that such a revocation of our access
would undermine our possibilities to carry out effective parliamentary scrutiny
of decision-making in the Council. At a time where increasing transparency of
the work carried out in the European institutions is of evident relevance, we
believe that the proposal to remove our access to the Delegates Portal is the
wrong signal to send.
As such, we have asked the Council Secretariat to reconsider revoking
access to Delegates Portal and to discuss the issue further with
representatives of the national parliaments, rather than exclusively with
representatives of national governments.
We would appreciate it if you could include a reference to this request, which
is of utmost importance to many chambers, in your (draft) contributions of the
LXXI COSAC Plenary meeting.
Yours sincerely,
4 March 2024
Mr. Niels Flemming HANSEN
Chair of the European Affairs
Committee of the Folketing
 EUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 379: Brev til det belgiske EU-formandskab vedr. adgang til Delegates Portal
Ms. Laura BROMET
Acting chair of the European
Affairs committee of the Tweede
Kamer
Mr. Bastiaan VAN APELDOORN
Chair of the Committee on
European Affairs of the Eerste
Kamer
 EUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 379: Brev til det belgiske EU-formandskab vedr. adgang til Delegates Portal
President Hadja Lahbib
Council of the EU
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175
B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel
Secretary-General Thérèse Blanchet
The General Secretariat of the Council
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175
B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel
Dear President of the General Affairs Council, dear Secretary General,
We have understood that the Council Secretariat is currently considering
revoking the access of national parliaments to the Delegates Portal system.
We would like to take this opportunity to stress that such a revocation of our
access would undermine our possibilities to carry out effective parliamentary
scrutiny of decision-making in the Council.
We are aware that the Council Secretariat has suggested using the Council
Information Exchange Platform (CIXP) as the main system for our access to
Council documents. However, the CIXP does not offer the same functionality
as the Delegates Portal. The experience with CIXP is that it is not a stable
system and that certain functionalities, such as searching for information, is
hardly possible. Furthermore, moving from one centrally managed system to
a system where the Member States each have to establish their own portals
in order to provide access to the CIXP is contrary to the very idea of EU
cooperation. It would limit our access to documents while at the same time
increasing the administrative burdens at Member State level.
At a time where increasing transparency of the work carried out in the
European institutions is of evident relevance, we believe that the proposal to
remove our access to the Delegates Portal would be the wrong signal to
send. We need to work together to increase transparency and the democratic
legitimacy of the work of the Council. Removing National Parliaments’ access
to Delegates Portal would therefore be a big step in the wrong direction and
run counter to what is foreseen in Articles 4 and 12 of the Treaty on the
European Union (TEU) and Protocol (No 1) of the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU).
We would furthermore like to encourage you to take all possible steps to
increase the accessibility of information to all national parliaments.
We hope to discuss the issue further and look forward to your response.
9 February 2024
 EUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 379: Brev til det belgiske EU-formandskab vedr. adgang til Delegates Portal
On behalf of:
Mr. Harris GEORGIADES,
Chairman of the Standing Committee on
Foreign and European Affairs of
the House of Representatives of
the Republic of Cyprus,
Mr. Vladislav VILÍMEC,
Chair of the EAC of
the Czech Senate
and
Mr. Ondřej BENEŠÍK, Chairman
of the Committee on European
Affairs of
the Czech Chamber of Deputies.
Mr. Anton HOFREITER,
Chairperson of the Committee on European
Union Affairs,
the German Bundestag
Ms. Liisa-Ly PAKOSTA,
The Chair of the Riigikogu's EU Affairs
Committee,
the Riigikogu, the Parliament of Estonia
Mr. Ioannis PLAKIOTAKIS,
1st Vice President and Chair of the
European Affairs Committee of
the Hellenic Parliament
Mr. Jean-François RAPIN,
Chairman of the Committee on EU Affairs
of
the French Senate
Mr. Giulio TERZI DI SANT'AGATA,
Chair of the EU Affairs
Committee of
the Italian Senato della Repubblica
and
Mr. Alessandro GIGLIO VIGNA,
Chair of the EU Policies Committee
of
the Italian Camera dei deputati
Mr. Edmunds CEPURITIS,
Chairman of the European Affairs
Committee of
the Parliament of Latvia
Ms. Radvilė MORKŪNAITĖ-MIKULĖNIENĖ,
Deputy Speaker and
Chairperson of the EU Affairs Committee of
the Parliament of the
Republic of Lithuania
Mr. Gusty GRAAS,
the Chair of the Committee on Foreign and
European Affairs, Cooperation, Foreign Trade and the Greater
Region of
the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg)
Ms. Judit VARGA,
Chair of the Committee on European Affairs
of
the Hungarian National Assembly
Mr. Reinhold LOPATKA,
Chairman of the Standing Subcommittee on
EU-Affairs of
the Austrian National Council
and
Mr. Christian BUCHMANN,
Chairman of the EU-Affairs Committee of
the Austrian Federal Council
Mr. Michał KOBOSKO,
Chairman of the European Union Affairs
Committee of
the Sejm of the Republic of Poland
and
Mr. Bogdan KLICH,
Chair of the EU affairs Committee of
the Senate
of the Republic of Poland
Mr. Luís CAPOULAS SANTOS,
Chair of the EU Affairs Committee of
the Assembleia da República Portuguesa
 EUU, Alm.del - 2023-24 - Bilag 379: Brev til det belgiske EU-formandskab vedr. adgang til Delegates Portal
Mr. Ján FERENČÁK,
Chairman of the Committee on European
Affairs of
the Slovak Republic
Mr. Heikki AUTTO,
Chair of the Grand Committee,
the Eduskunta,
the Parliament of Finland
Yours sincerely
Mr. Niels Flemming HANSEN
Chair of the European Affairs
Committee of the Folketing
Ms. Laura BROMET
Acting chair of the European
affairs committee of the Tweede
Kamer
Mr. Bastiaan VAN APELDOORN
Chair of the Committee on
European Affairs of the Eerste
Kamer