MPs and MEPs to discuss way forward for single market and sustainable growth

18.04.2012 - Tapping the full potential of the EU's single market and greening the economy will be the key themes of the next Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC). Organised by the Danish Parliament from 22 to 24 April in Copenhagen, this meeting will bring together members of the EU affairs committees of the 27 national Parliaments and Members of the European Parliament.

The elected representatives will exchange views on how to reinforce the EU's single market, especially in services and the digital market, and how to promote the transition to a resource-efficient economy. Invited speakers include Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Commissioners Neelie Kroes, Michel Barnier and Janez Potočnik, and Malcolm Harbour (ECR), Chairman of the EP's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. The meeting will be chaired by Eva Kjer Hansen, Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament.

The EP delegation will be headed by Vice President Miguel Ángel Martínez Martínez (S&D) and AFCO Chairman Carlo Casini (EPP), and gathers AFCO member Paulo Rangel (EPP), IMCO member Evelyne Gebhardt (S&D), AFET member Graham Watson (ALDE) as well as ENVI subsitute member Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA).

 

About COSAC

The Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) was created in May 1989 in Madrid, where the Speakers of the Parliaments of the EU Member States agreed to strengthen the role of the national Parliaments in relation to EU matters by bringing together their committees on European affairs. The first meeting of COSAC took place in November 1989 in Paris. COSAC's role is defined in Article 10 of the Protocol (No. 1) on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union annexed to the Lisbon treaty.