European Parliament / Relations with National Parliaments

Members of the European Parliament and of the EU national Parliaments discussed the global challenges of the EU and European defence cooperation.

82 Members of national Parliaments from EU Member States, the European Parliament from EU candidate countries and countries attending as observers and guests called on the European Union to take on a global leadership role and actively defend and promote its values and interests worldwide. At this Inter-Parliamentary Conference that took place on 2-4 March in Zagreb, they also stressed the urgent need for strong political and strategic coordination and a more united and proactive external action for Europe. In particular, they emphasised that the EU needs to play a stronger role in promoting a political solution to the conflicts in Syria and Libya.

The FEMM International Women's Day 2020 event, planned to take place on 5th March, had to be cancelled due to the current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). 

On the occasion of the 2020 International Women's Day, the European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) in cooperation with the Legislative Dialogue Unit of the Directorate for Relations with national Parliaments, is inviting Members of the national Parliaments of the EU Member States to attend an Interparliamentary Committee Meeting (ICM).  This year edition is an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

The event is organised around two thematic areas. The first session will tackle the Beijing+25 and Next Steps towards Generation Equality, and the second one will be dedicated to Women Leadership in the Fight for Climate Justice.

This ICM will provide a global forum for an exchange of best practices and knowledge sharing. At the same time, it will allow to gain insights into the recent developments in the gender equality field.

The meeting will take place on Thursday, 5 March 2020 from 9.00 to12.30 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

For the first time under this term of the European Parliament and in the context of the economic and budgetary policies scrutiny, the European Parliament together with the Croatian Presidency organised the European Parliamentary Week 2020. It took place on 18 and 19 February 2020, at the European Parliament in Brussels. The European Parliamentary Week brought together Parliamentarians from the European Union, candidate and observer countries to discuss economic, budgetary and social matters. It consists of the European Semester Conference and the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union.

The COSAC Chairpersons' meeting took place in Zagreb on 20-21 January 2020. It was the first interparliamentary event of the Croatian Presidency and brought together the Chairs of the EU Affairs Committees of the EU Parliaments and Chambers, the European Parliament, and candidate and guest countries. The European Parliament was represented by the First Vice-President, Mrs Mairead McGuinness, in charge of relations with national Parliaments and the Chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Mr Antonio Tajani. The Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments of DG PRES prepared this meeting and provided support and advice to the Members of the European Parliament.

The LXII (62nd) COSAC Plenary meeting took place in Helsinki, on 1-3 December 2019. Delegations from the EU national Parliaments and the European Parliament had the possibility to debate on the Conference on the Future of Europe, the Rule of Law in the EU and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the future Commission, a Winning Climate Strategy for Europe and the developments on Brexit.

The Interparliamentary committee meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee enabled a first exchange between the new EU leadership and parliamentarians from the national Parliaments and the European Parliament, at the outset of the new mandate.

Mr Joseph Borell, High Representative/Vice-President of the European Commission and Mr Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood participated at the meeting.

The half-day meeting took place from 14:00-17:00 in the afternoon on Wednesday, 4 December 2019, in room JAN 2Q2 in the EP premises in Brussels.

The European Conference of Presidents of Parliament took place on 24-25 October, in Strasbourg. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) hosted around 60 Presidents, together with 300 other delegates coming from the Council of Europe member states and partner countries, as well as other international assemblies.The European Parliament was represented by Ms Dita Charanzová, Vice-President.

An exchange of views between Members from national Parliaments and Members of the European Parliament's Committee for Economic and Monetary affairs (ECON) took place on Tuesday, 24 September 2019 in the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting brought together 12 Parliamentarians and 31 officials from national Parliaments of 19 Member States as well as 43 Members of the European Parliament.

The Fifth Meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol took place on 23 and 24 September 2019 in the European Parliament in Brussels. It was co-organised and co-chaired by the European Parliament and the Finnish Parliament. The meeting brought together 65 Parliamentarians of 37 Parliaments/Chambers from 27 Member States and 12 MEPs from the European Parliament delegation to the JPSG, re-established following the European elections.

"The EU needs to take on a global leadership role and actively defend and promote our common values and interests in the world," the co-chairs said in their final statement of the 15th Inter-parliamentary Conference (IPC) for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP/CSDP). They continued: "At a time when others are increasingly challenging the rules-based global order, we Europeans must defend multilateralism, international law, democracy and human rights."

The IPC held in Helsinki on 4-6 September 2019 was attended by193 parliamentarians from the EU Member States, the European Parliament, EU candidate countries and countries attending as guests.

2018 marked an intensive and active year for interparliamentary cooperation. This was also reflected in the intensive work of the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments. A high number of interparliamentary conferences, meetings and debates and a record number of bilateral visits took place throughout the year.

The annual activity report of the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments gives an overview of all activities and developments in interparliamentary cooperation with national Parliaments in 2018. You can find below the full report.