1996 Intergovernmental Conference of the European Union
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 27 September 1995 (29th Sitting) (see Doc. 7373, report of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr Masseret; Doc. 7378, contribution from the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, rapporteur: Mrs Degn; and Doc. 7404, contribution from the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations, rapporteur: Mrs Ragnarsdóttir). Text adopted by the Assembly on 27 September 1995 (29th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
1. The European Union and the Council of Europe have the common task of setting out guidelines for European construction, which is achieved as much by intergovernmental co-operation as by integration.
2. The European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are the European institutions, stemming from universal suffrage, which are best placed to meet the democratic demands of the people of Europe.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament have regular contacts thanks to meetings between delegations of their respective Bureaux, the most recent one having taken place on 6 April 1995.
4. Also, certain committees of the Parliamentary Assembly and European Parliament hold joint meetings - in particular on agriculture, social, health and family affairs, science and technology. Moreover, there are regular consultations between the committees dealing with legal questions, human rights, public freedom, culture, environment, local authorities, migration, demography and refugees.
5. The Assembly welcomes the regularity and the quality of European Parliament reports under-lining the need for increased co-operation with our Assembly - the most recent leading to the resolution of 15 December 1993.
6. Moreover, by its resolution of 30 November 1994, the European Parliament asked that states joining the European Union should already be member states of the Council of Europe.
7. The Parliamentary Assembly and European Parliament both stem from universal suffrage and guarantee democratic principles in Europe. This should facilitate the strengthening of their co-operation.
8. For these reasons, the Parliamentary Assembly proposes to the European Parliament that both bodies:
8.1 address to each other an annual report on their activities;
8.2 arrange for joint committee meetings as well as hearings and conferences on subjects of common interest;
8.3 arrange for more reciprocal invitations to rapporteurs on questions of common interest;
8.4 agree to a common position on the participation of their presidents in the present quadripartite meetings, attended on behalf of the European Union by the Chairman-in-Office of the Council of Ministers and the President of the Commission and on behalf of the Council of Europe by the Chairman-in-Office of the Committee of Ministers and the Secretary General;
8.5 intensify co-operation by giving a regular and practical character to the meetings of delegations of their Bureaux, which should have a genuine mandate as regards questions to be discussed and the nature of decisions to be taken.
9. The Assembly calls on the governments of the European Union's member states to examine, at the Intergovernmental Conference, ways and means of improving co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union, so that the two institutions take one another's work into due account in order to avoid duplication of work. The Union should adhere to as many Council of Europe conventions as possible, and participate in relevant partial agreements.
10. Before embarking on new activities, the European Union should examine whether these activities can be better pursued within the Council of Europe, wherever appropriate with the support and co-operation of the Union.
11. The Assembly emphasises the need to ensure the follow-up of its consideration of the institutional developments in progress and wishes the Bureau, at its level, to take the appropriate measures.
