Annual Reports

Annual Report 2023 on the relations between the European Parliament and EU national Parliaments

The report gives an overview of all activities and developments in interparliamentary cooperation with national Parliaments in 2023, a cooperation involving 39 national Parliaments and Chambers across the 27 Member States and the European Parliament.

Cooperation between the European Parliament and EU national Parliaments in 2023 remained marked by Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, which is also an attack on international law and on European values. The consequences of the war in Ukraine for the EU's economy, notably inflation in the food and energy sectors, also featured in interparliamentary debates, in which discussions focused on reforming the EU's economic governance framework. The European Parliament and EU national Parliaments also exchanged on the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights and the 2024 European Parliament elections.

After three years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the full normalisation of in-person interparliamentary meetings in 2023 was a very welcome development. Bilateral personal contacts again became an essential part of interparliamentary meetings providing Members of national Parliaments and the European Parliament with the opportunity to exchange views, ideas and best practices on cross-cutting issues of mutual interest.

Annual Report 2022 on the relations between the European Parliament and EU national Parliaments

The report gives an overview of all activities and developments in interparliamentary cooperation with national Parliaments in 2022, a cooperation involving 39 national Parliaments and Chambers across the 27 Member States and the European Parliament.

2022 was marked by the Russian Federation's unprovoked, illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine. The major recurrent topics discussed at numerous interparliamentary meetings included the EU's security and external action in response to the war in Ukraine, the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery, the state of the rule of law in the Member States, the EU's NextGenerationEU and economic recovery plans and the outcome and the Conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe. These are only a few of the areas where national Parliaments played, and are still playing, an important role.

In 2022, many, though not all, interparliamentary meetings could be held in person again, for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic accelerated the use of digital tools, which will of course remain available and may still be very useful for organising certain meetings in hybrid or remote formats. Overall, the return to face-to-face and in-person meetings was very much welcomed and lent a new dynamic to interparliamentary activities in 2022.