Tutvustus

The European Parliament's Delegation to the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly (DEPA) represents the Parliament at the forum created to bring together representatives of the EU and most of the Union's Eastern Partner countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Assembly was an initiative of the European Parliament, which sought to create a parliamentary extension of the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood policy. The idea, expressed in a resolution in 2007, took concrete form in 2011.

The resulting parliamentary assembly includes both the 60-member EURONEST delegation from the European Parliament (the DEPA delegation) and 50 members from the partner countries - 10 each from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. For political reasons, it has not yet proved possible to admit a Belarusian delegation to the assembly, as the National Assembly of Belarus does not meet yet the necessary democratic standards.

The DEPA delegation participates in the ordinary sessions of the Assembly and contributes to the work of the Assembly's four standing Committees (respectively Political, Economic, Energy and Social affairs) , of its Working Group on Belarus, of its ad hoc Working Group on Association Agreements and of its Forum of Euronest PA Women Members.

The delegation also meets in Brussels and Strasbourg - independently of the Assembly's structures - to discuss the forum, as well as the state of bilateral relations and prospects for the Eastern Partnership's future.

Composition

With its 60 full members, as well as a large cohort of substitute members, the DEPA Delegation is one of the European Parliament's largest.

The Chair of the delegation is Andrius Kubilius, a Lithuanian member of the Parliament's Group of the European People's Party. The Bureau of the delegation is composed of the Chair and four Vice-Chairs: MEPs Cristian Terhes, Marketa Gregorova, Patryk Jaki and Andrzej Halicki.

The members of the Bureau are elected from and by the members of the delegation, on the basis on the advice that they receive from their respective political groups, while the members are nominated by the Parliament's political groups. The political balance of the delegation mirrors that of the Parliament as a whole.

As Chair of the DEPA delegation, Mr Kubilius is also Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (PA). His Euronest PA Co-President is currently Mr Ivan Krulko, Member of the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivshchyna of his country's parliament.

Focus

The delegation uses its meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg to address both organisational and political issues.

As the largest in the Euronest PA, the Parliament's DEPA delegation helps to plan the sessions and provides feedback and follow-up after they have taken place.

The delegation also delves into questions of substance regarding the situation in the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood and the latest developments of the EU's Eastern Neighbourhood policy.