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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
-V-C0M(82 )277 final
Brussels ,27May 1982
THE ROLE OFTHE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT INTHE PREPARATION
AND CONCLUSION OFINTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS AND ACCESSION
TREATIES
■;
'a>V-"
h c: .À
h : -s,
\r>'\ . "•-\-"Jv* - "
v ^ (Communication from the Commission toParliament and
. /v ''V
- theCouncil )
C0MC82 )277 final

£GM
Communication toPARLIAMENT andtheCOUNCIL
THEROLEOFTHEEUROPEAN PARLIAMENT INTHEPREPARATION ANDCONCLUSION
OFINTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ANDACCESSION TREATIES
INTRODUCTION
1.Foraconsiderable time,theEuropeanParliament hasbeen
demanding agreatersayinthenegotiation andconclusionofinternational
agreements towhichtheCommunityistobeapartyandoftreatiesonthe
accessionofnewMemberStates.Thesedemands,whichcarryaddedweight
nowthatParliamentisdirectlyelected,weremostrecentlyandmost
comprehensively speltoutintheBlumenfeldresolution adoptedon18February
1982.
I
2.TheCommission hasalwaysconsidered increasedinvolvement
ofParliamentintheseprocedures bothdesirable andfeasiblewithout
upsettingthedivisionofpowersbetweentheinstitutions laid,oninthe
Treaty.
e
Withintheboundsofitsownresponsibilities ,theCommission
infactalreadyworksincloseliaisonwithParliament andmaintains a
constantinterchange ofinformation withit.
However,theCommission .hasrecentlyundertaking,inits
Communication of7October1981entitled"Relations betweentheinstitutions
oftheCommunity":
"tocollaborate withParliament andtheCouncilinthesearchforan
agreement onpractical improvements toexistingprocedures sothat
Parliament canbemorecloselyinvolvedinthepreparation of
international agreements,withouterodingthecompetences ofthe
individual institutions ."
Thefollowingideasandsuggestions aresubmittedto
Parliament andtheCouncil,withtheaimoffulfillingthatundertaking .

-2-
II.ALLOWING PARLIAMENT AGREATER SAY INTHE PREPARATION AND CONCLUSION OF .
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS . .
■1.Present situation .Differences from role ofnational
parLiaments
Under theTreaties ,Parliament isconsulted onagreements
incases where consultation ofitisrequired bythe article which forms
the legal basis forthe agreement .TheCommission proposes that negotiations
beheld andconducts thenegotiations .TheCouncit authorizes the
opening ofnegotiations ,gives theCommission any instructions which
might berequired ,and concludes theagreement .
InFebruary 1964 andNovember 1973 the Council adopted two
procedures known asthe "Luns "and "Westerterp "procedures (or"Luns I"
i
and Luns II")forassociation andtrade agreements respectively .The
te>t ofthetwoprocedures isgiven intheAnnex .Their main purpose is
toensure that Parliament iskept fully informed throughout thenegotiation
ofsuch agreements .
Therole ofthe .European Parliament inthesystem setup
bytheTreaties isthus different from that ptayed bynational parliaments
inMember States .Thenational parliaments ,although unable toamend
agreements negotiated andsigned bytheir governments ,have thepower ,
inimportant cases atleast ,toapprove orreject theagreement intoto .
Under some constitutions however ,certain types ofagreement escape
parliamentary scrutiny ,such asthose ofanadministrative ortechnical
nature ,those concluded under existing legislation orfor alimited
period ,andthose with only minor financial implications .
./.

2.Measuresproposed.
aOObjective.
(i)Theobjectiveofthesuggestions theCommission hastomake
cannotbetointroduceintotheCommunitylegalorderasystemsimilar
tothoseinforceintheMemberStates.Thatwouldrequireamendmentof
theTreaties.Itisdesirable,however,asParliament recognizes,that
apracticeshouldbeadoptedthatisascloseaspossibletothosesystems.
(n)TheCommission believesthattoattainthisobjectiveitis
necessarytoincreaseParliament'ssayinthepreparation andconclusion
oftreatiesandagreementsthatareofsignificance fortheformulation
andapplication ofCommunitypolicies.
Itisinrelationtoinstruments ofthistypethatthe
proposedmeasuresareintendedtoapply.
t
ItisnotproposedthatParliament shouldhavetoconsider
agreements orarrangements ofanadministrative ortechnicalnature
orwhichareadoptedwithintheframeworkofearlieragreements .
(iii)Adoptionoftheaboveobjectivealsomeansthat,although
Parliament wouldcertainlynotbeleftoutof-thenegotiation stage(it
wouldinfactbekeptregularlyinformedthroughout),itsinvolvement
wouldbegreatestatthestageoftheconclusionoftheagreement.
ItappearsfromtheBlumenfeldresolutionthatParliament agrees
withthisapproach.
j .
b)Preparation andnegotiation stage.
<i)TheCommissionispreparedtoinformParliament <forreasons
-ofConfidentiality ,throughtheappropriate-parliamentary committees)of(
projectednegotiations asearlyasthestageofpreparation ofadraft'
■negotiatingbriefforsubmissiontotheCouncil^TheInformation givenwould
f:."coverthemainpointsofthenegotiations*' ?a^liaro<?nt vwouldthusbe_
■informedofthebasisofthenegotiations beforetheywereactuallyopened.

1
--'•y
-4_
ii)TheLuns/Westerterp procedures shouldbeextendedtoall
treatiesandagreements whichtheCommunityproposestoconcludeand
whichareimportantfortheformulation orapplication ofCommunitypolicies.
Thiswouldmeanthat,inadditiontotheinformation provided
bytheCommission onaroutinebasisthroughtheparliamentary committees
andtheattendanceofCouncilrepresentatives atanydebatesParliament
mighthold,theappropriate committeesofParliament wouldalsobe
acquainted bytheCpeflhcil,onaconfidential andunofficial basis,ofthe
substanceofagreements beforetheyaresigned.Thiswouldapplynot
onlytoagreements basedonArticles238and113butalsotothosebasedon
otherarticles. •, .-
InthiswayParliament wouldkeepinclosetouch-
muchcloserthanispossiblefornationalparliaments-withthe
progressofimportantinternational agreements atallstagesintheir
preparation .
Byjudicious useoftheinformationitreceived,Parliament
wouldbeabletoexertanincreasedinfluence onthedirectionofthe
negotiations . > .
./.
1)Theformal .notification ofParliamentaftersigningwhichis
provided ,forinrespect ,oftradeagreements undertheWesterterp
procedure,wouldbecomeunnecessary 1consultation ofParliament became
therule,asissuggestedbelow(seepara.c).Thenotification
wouldbereplacedbyconsultation .

c)Conclusion staqe.
AsregardsParliament'sinvolvement inthe
»
conclusionofagreements,theCommission considersthatthefollowing
twopractical measureswould,withoutalteringtheexistinglegal
framework,allowParliamenttoplayagreaterrole.
(i) First,theCouncilwould,exceptinemergencies,
consultParliamentafterSigninganagreementnotonly,asatpresent,
incaseswhereconsultation isrequiredbytheTreaties,butalso
evenwhereitisnotboundtodoso,inrelationtoalltreaties
andagreementsofimportancefortheformulation andapplicationof
Communitypolicies.
Thisextension'of consultation ofParliament would
chieflyconcernimportantagreements concludedunderAtticle113(with
Article238,whichprovidesformandatoryconsultation ,themost
frequentlegalbasisforagreements),butitwouldalsocoverimportant
agreements basedonotherarticlesoftheTreatieswhich.donot
provideforconsultation ofParliament .
Itwould,ofcourse,benecessaryforParliament
todeliveritsopinionwithinthetimelimitdictatedbytheurgency
ofthecase. *
(ii) Secondly,itwouldbeagreedthatifParliament
votedbyalargemajorityagainsttheconclusionofanagreement on
whichitwasconsulted,therewouldbeapoliticaldebatebetween
1I
thethreeinstitutions concernedbeforetheagreement wasconcluded.
TheCommissionfirmlybelievesthatthroughsuch
adebate,conductedinanopenandfrankatmosphere atanappropriate
politicallevel.Parliament wouldbeabletoexertadefiniteinfluence
onthedecisionconcerning theconclusionoftreatiesandagreements
whichwereimportantfortheformulation andapplication ofCommunity
policies.

-6-
III .ACCESSION TREATIES .
1.Unlike agreements concluded bytheCommunity ,-
treaties ofaccession tothe EECorEuratom arenegotiated and concluded
bytheMember States andnot bytheCommunity institutions .
The Community institutions have asayonly inasmuch
(1)asthedeirision ontheprinciple ofaccession istaken bythe
Council ,after consulting theCommission .(1)asthedeicBion ontheprinciple ofaccession istaken bythe
Itistrue ,however ,that thenegotiations areheld under
Council auspices andthat the Commission isinvolved inthem and in
practice does alarge part ofthepreparatory work .
2.This being so,theinvolvement ofParliament in
accession procedures isreally possible only inasmuch astheCommunity
itself plays arole insuch procedures ,andwithin the limits imposed
onthat role .
Itissuggested ,therefore ,that before taking a
decision ontheprinciple ofanaccession the Council ,aswell as
obtaining theopinion oftheCommission ,should also encourage a
political debate inParliament .
3.Secondly >theCommission isprepared tokeep
Parliament informed oftheprogress ofnegotiations insofar asitis
free todisclose such information .
» •
4.Finally ,ofcourse ,there isnoreason whyParliament
should not bring influence tobear onthevarious national governments
andparliaments bydrawing their attention totheresults ofthe
debates itholds before theopening ofnegotiations andafter the
signing ofanaccesion treaty .
(1)Inthecase oftheECSC ,terms ofaccession aredetermined bythe
Council ,acting unanimously .

Thesuggestions outlinedaboverepresent,inthe
Commission'sopinion,therudimentsofapragmatic andeffective
procedurewhichwouldincreaseParliament'ssaytothegreatest
possibleextent-intheinterestsofwiderdemocratic control,
ι
without .upsettingthedivisionofpowersbetweentheinstitutions
laiddownintheTreaty.~J"
Whenthesesuggestions havebeenconsidered by
Parliament andtheCouncil,detailedarrangements could,if
necessary,beworkedoutforimplementing theprocedure.

ANNEX
AGREEMENTS WITH THIRD COUNTRIES
"Adebate may take place intheParliament before negotiations
with aview tothe association ofathird country with theCommunity
are started .During thenegotiations close contacts shall be
maintained between theCommission and theappropriate committees
oftheParliament .When thenegotiations are concluded ,but
before theagreement issigned ,theCouncil oritsrepresentative
shall confidentially andunofficially inform theappropriate
committees ofthe substance oftheagreement "•.
(Minutes oftheCouncil 24and25February 1964 .page 26)
/S/861/63(AS3 5),pagelj
Trade agreeraents (WESTERTERP procédure \
Paragraph I:Procedure adopted bytheCouncil
1
I
"Further totheResolution adopted bytheEuropean Parliament
on13February 1973 »fuller participation bytheEuropean
Parliament inthefield oftrade agreements could beenvisaged
along thefollowing lines : j
-prior totheopening ofnegotiations concerning atrade
agreement with athird country andintholijht oftheinformation
supplied bytheCounciil tothecompetent committees of .the
/
> i .
- < •
.
••/...

Parliament,adebatecould,whereappropriate ,beheldinthe
EuropeanParliament(^)j
-whennegotiations arecompleted,butbeforethesigningofthe
agreement,thePresidentoftheCouncilorhisrepresentative
wouldconfidentially andunofficially acquaintthecompetent
committeeswiththesubstanceoftheagreement;
-bearinginmindtheEuropean "Parliaments interestintrade
agreementsconcludedbytheCommunity,theCouncilwouldacquaint
theEuropeanParliamentwiththecontentofsuchagreements,after
theirsigningandbeforetheirconclusion *
^"3/2641/73.7[
()TheCouncilnotedthattheCommissionhad-onitsowninitiative
andresponsibility -statedinparagraph9'ofitscommunication
onpracticalmeasurestostrengthenthepowersofcontrolofthe
EuropeanParliament andtoImproverelationsbetweenthe
EuropeanParliament andtheCommissionthatitwould"keepthe
competentcommitteesoftheParliamentinformedoftheprogress
ofnegotiations ontradeagreements".
InviewoftheCommission'sDeclarationofjlntent,theNetherlands
delegationdid1notrequestastipulationthat,duringnegotiations ,closecontactswouldbemaintained betweentheCommission andthe
comneteritcommitteesoftheParliament,asprovidedunderthe
LliJSIprocedure *