Conference of Committees for European and Community Affairs of the European Union Parliaments (COSAC) — Contribution adopted by the XXXVth COSAC — Vienna, 22 to 23 May 2006
Date: 2006-10-03
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: COSAC, European Constitution, European neighbourhood policy, Western Balkans, citizens' Europe, drafting of EU law, principle of proportionality, principle of subsidiarity, transparency in decision-making

3.10.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 238/1

I

(Information)

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Conference of Committees for European and Community Affairs of the European Union Parlia-
ments (COSAC)

Contribution adopted by the XXXVth COSAC

Vienna, 22 to 23 May 2006

(2006/C 238/01)

The Future of Europe and the Period of Reflection

Subsidiarity and Proportionality

1.1 COSAC believes that in order to renew the confidence of
Europe's citizens in the Union a broad debate which does
not limit itself to the fate of the Constitutional Treaty has
to be continued at all levels. In this regard citizens' specific
concerns and the status of public opinion in the Member
States need to be understood.

1.2 COSAC takes good note of the debate in the Joint Parlia-
mentary Meeting on the Future of Europe on 8 and 9 May
2006. COSAC is convinced that the meeting made a valu-
able contribution to conclusions that might be drawn
from the period of reflection.

1.3 COSAC calls on the European Council on 17 June 2006
to present a roadmap for further measures to be taken, in
particular for the future of
the ratification process in
general, and to come up with specific proposals on how
the Union could function better.

The Constitutional Treaty

2.1 COSAC calls on the European institutions to explain
better the advantages of the Constitutional Treaty not just
in terms of institutional questions but also with regard to
citizens' rights,
transparency, balance of solidarity and
subsidiarity, democracy, rights of national parliaments and
values.

2.2 COSAC welcomes the decision of 16 Member States
including most recently Belgium, Estonia and Finland who
have either already ratified the Constitutional Treaty or
declared their intention to do so as a positive signal to
keep the ratification process in motion while equally
respecting the decision of other Member States which
have not yet ratified.

3.1 COSAC regards the monitoring of the effective application
of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as an
important element of the scrutiny role of National Parlia-
ments.

3.2 COSAC stresses that the EU should act in areas where
action on the European level clearly brings added value.
This matter was dealt with at a conference on subsidiarity
in St. Pölten on 18 and 19 April 2006 as a follow-up to
the Hague-conference.

3.3 COSAC bearing in mind the role national parliaments
already play in the scrutiny of EU legislation as acknowl-
edged in the Amsterdam Treaty's Protocol No 9 on the
role of national parliaments in the European Union and
Protocol No 30 on the application of the principles of
subsidiarity and proportionality stresses that their full use
should lead to more efficiency in implementing EU poli-
cies.

the Commission at

3.4 COSAC warmly welcomes the commitment of the Presi-
dent of
the Joint Parliamentary
Meeting on the Future of Europe on 9 May 2006 to
transmit directly all new legislative proposals and consul-
tation papers to National Parliaments,
inviting them to
react so as to improve the process of policy formulation.
COSAC asks
the Commission to take into account
comments from National Parliaments — in particular with
regard to the subsidiarity and proportionality principles —
and within an acceptable timeframe to acknowledge
receipt and offer a reasoned response.

3.5 COSAC requests the Commission to provide its annual
legislative and work programme, the annexes and indica-
tive lists in all languages. In addition, more detailed infor-
mation on the proposals would allow national parliaments
to discuss the substantial policy direction of the Commis-
sion.

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Official Journal of the European Union

3.10.2006

3.6 COSAC welcomes the Conclusions of the Conference of
the Speakers of European Union Parliaments of Budapest
of 7 May 2005 that referred to COSAC's ‘declaration on
the role of National Parliaments in the European debate:
Raise national European awareness’ and called upon the
to hold a debate preferably in
National Parliaments
plenary session eachyear on the annual
legislative and
work programme of the Commission with due respect for
framework and
their
traditions.

internal work programme,

legal

3.7 COSAC notes that a significant number of National Parlia-
ments have agreed to take part in the second subsidiarity
and proportionality check based on legislative proposals
from the Commission's annual work programme for
2006. Since part of the proposals will only be dealt with
in the second half of 2006 COSAC invites the incoming
Finnish Presidency to take over the coordination under the
terms of the conclusions of the XXXIV COSAC.

3.8 COSAC looks forward to the official inauguration of the
IPEX website by the Conference of the Speakers of Euro-
their next conference in
pean Union Parliaments at
Copenhagen from 29 June to 2 July 2006 which should
allow National Parliaments to better coordinate their activ-
ities and exchange their best practises in the framework of
COSAC.

Better regulation

4.1 COSAC thanks the President of the Commission for the
information on the follow up of its contribution of the
XXXIV COSAC with regard to impact assessments.
COSAC asks the Commission to translate at
the
summaries of all
its impact assessments into all official
languages of the Union.

least

4.2 COSAC welcomes the Commission's initiative on better
regulation, its efforts to simplify existing EU law and to
achieve a better quality of new proposals while preserving
the ‘acquis communautaire’.

4.3 COSAC encourages the Commission to devise a method
aiming at assessing and reducing bureaucratic costs by the
end of 2006.

4.4 COSAC welcomes the launch of the Commission's impact
assessment web page on the ‘Europa’ website where the
proposals of the legislative and work programme together
impact assessment reports and policy
with roadmaps,
documents can be found.

Openness in the Council

5.1 COSAC underlines the necessity to realise maximum
transparency in the EU decision making process for the
benefit of our citizens, European democracy and the
future of the EU.

5.2 COSAC calls on the Council to allow open sessions for
European Union legislative proposals including on certain
matters not subject to the co-decision procedure as set out
in Art 251 ECT and amend its rules of procedure accord-
ingly.

The 5th Biannual Report

6.

COSAC welcomes the 5th biannual report prepared by
the COSAC Secretariat which has again been helpful for
obtaining an overview of the developments in the Euro-
pean Union thatare relevant to parliamentary scrutiny.

The Western Balkans

7.1 COSAC expresses its support for the reform and stabilisa-
tion process in the Western Balkans as steps towards the
integration of these countries into the European Union. In
this context COSAC welcomed the presence of COSAP at
its meeting as a special guest.

7.2 COSAC welcomes the start of negotiations to transform
the Central European Free Trade Association CEFTA into a
comprehensive Free Trade arrangement for South Eastern
Europe as an important step on the road to full integra-
tion of all countries of the region into the European struc-
tures.

Neighbourhood Policy

8.

COSAC takes a positive note of
the transformation
process in the Ukraine and regards the neighbourhood
policy as a necessary part of complementing the EU enlar-
gement policy .