The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the proposal from the Conference of Presidents,

–  having regard to the association, cooperation and other agreements concluded by the European Union with third countries,

–  having regard to Rules 212 and 214 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  anxious to strengthen parliamentary democracy by pursuing continuous interparliamentary dialogue;

1.  Decides on the number of the interparliamentary delegations and their regional groupings as follows:

Delegation for Northern cooperation and for relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the EU-Albania Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee

Delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Association Committee

Delegation for relations with Belarus

Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee

Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly

Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean

Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly

Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly

Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly;

2.  Decides that the membership of parliamentary committees created on the basis of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) shall be drawn exclusively from the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Development – ensuring the maintenance of the leading role of the Committee on International Trade as the committee responsible – and that they should actively coordinate their work with the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly;

3.  Decides that the membership of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly shall be drawn exclusively from the bilateral or sub-regional delegations covered by each Assembly;

4.  Decides that the membership of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly shall be drawn exclusively from the Subcommittee on Security and Defence;

5.  Decides that the Conference of Delegation Chairs should draw up a draft six-monthly calendar of activities following a consultation with the Committees on Foreign Affairs, on Development and on International Trade. It should be drafted in close cooperation with the Conference of Committee Chairs’ six-month calendar of committee delegations, also taking into account the yearly work programme of the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), in order to ensure a consistent approach. This joint draft six-monthly calendar of activities shall then be submitted for adoption to the Conference of Presidents. The Conference of Presidents may modify the proposed draft calendar with a view to responding to political events and to ensuring coherence of all Parliament’s external activities;

6.  Recalls that only official delegations, duly authorised by the Conference of Presidents, are permitted to carry out activities on behalf of the European Parliament and to represent its position;

7.  Decides that the political groups and non-attached Members shall appoint permanent substitutes to serve on each type of delegation and that the number of those substitutes may not exceed the number of full members representing the groups or non-attached Members;

8.  Decides that full members of standing interparliamentary delegations shall be entitled to participate in interparliamentary meetings outside Parliament’s places of work. If a full member is unable to travel, he or she may be replaced by one of the permanent substitute members or, if the substitute member is not available, by a member of the interparliamentary assembly covering this delegation, nominated by the political group to which the full member belongs. If a member of the interparliamentary assembly covering this delegation is not available, members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development and the Committee on International Trade could be entitled to participate;

9.  Considers that prior to an interparliamentary meeting with the counterpart (SAPC, JPC, PAC, PCC, IPM, etc.), or prior to any given outgoing delegation, close consultation should take place with the relevant committee(s) on possible political topics or legislative scrutiny issues that the delegation should address in meetings with the counterparts of the country concerned;

10.  Will endeavour to ensure in practice that one or more committee rapporteurs or chairs may likewise take part in the proceedings of delegations, joint interparliamentary committees, parliamentary cooperation committees and multilateral parliamentary assemblies, and decides that the President, on the joint request of the delegation and committee chairs concerned, shall authorise missions of this type;

11.  Decides that this decision will enter into force at the first part-session of the ninth parliamentary term;

12.  Instructs its President to forward this decision to the Council, the Commission and the European External Action Service.