Our mission

The Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments advises the political bodies, Members and the secretariat of the European Parliament in their institutional cooperation and legislative dialogue with the national Parliaments. It provides support for interparliamentary activities, contributes to the implementation of the Treaty provisions on interparliamentary cooperation in the EP and provides expertise throughout the legislative cycle and other EP political competences.

The Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments acts as a knowledge centre for information regarding national Parliaments and provides information to the EP administration on best practices within national Parliaments. It represents the European Parliament in the administrative networks of interparliamentary cooperation. It manages relations with the officials that represent the national Parliaments in Brussels and maintains close links with their administrations.

The activities of the European Parliament's Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments are conducted under the political leadership of EP President Roberta Metsola, and two Vice-Presidents, Esteban Gonzalez Pons and Katarina Barley. According to the EP's Rules of Procedure, the Conference of Presidents is the authority responsible for matters concerning relations with the national Parliaments of EU Member States.

The Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments is managed by Leticia Zuleta de Reales Ansaldo as Director. It forms part of the EP's Directorate-General for Parliamentary Democracy Partnerships, headed by Director-General Sanaleena Lepola-Honig. The Directorate consists of two units.

Institutional Cooperation Unit - Head of Unit: Anne McLauchlan
The areas of responsibility of the Institutional Cooperation Unit include multilateral regulated cooperation, i.e. the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments, the meetings of Secretaries-General of EU Parliaments, and COSAC. The Unit also deals with established networks, in particular IPEX and ECPRD, as well as handling cooperation with the Directorate-General for External Policies (DG EXPO) and coordination of the Presidency Parliament support programmes and capacity building visits.

Legislative Dialogue Unit - Head of Unit: Jesús Gómez
The Legislative Dialogue Unit is mainly responsible for the political and legislative dialogue with national Parliaments. It plans, coordinates and organises interparliamentary meetings at committee level, including ICMs, EPWeek and Europol JPSG. It also ensures the monitoring of the subsidiarity check, and the follow-up with rapporteurs and committees of the implementation of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. The Unit also organises thematic seminars bringing together the EP and national Parliament's administrations, and is responsible for the CONNECT and CORCOM databases.