Strengthening the role of parliaments

Resolution 633 (1976)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 16 September 1976 (10th Sitting) (see Doc. 3832, report of the Committee on Science and Technology). Text adopted by the Assembly on 16 September 1976 (10th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Concerned at the growing disparity in Europe between the formal constitutional functions of parliaments and their real capacity for control and for taking initiatives ;

2. Convinced that parliaments and international parliamentary assemblies have inadequate apparatus for the in-depth analysis of complex problems, for making independent forecasts of technical progress and future needs, and for assessing the implications of alternative technologies, and noting with interest the progress made in providing the Congress of the United States with information machinery designed to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of its work,

3. Calls on parliaments in Europe and European parliamentary assemblies :

a to establish arrangements giving access through common European facilities to modern information and analytical systems, in order that parliaments may exercise their functions of scrutiny and control in a more effective manner at national and European level ;

b to develop these facilities so as to make possible the creation of a long-term technology forecasting and assessment instrument to serve parliaments in Europe, so that parliamentarians can have access through common facilities to objective information ;

c to scrutinise the introduction and exploitation of new social science techniques, with a view to assessing their impact on society and to safeguarding the rights and privacy of individuals ;

d to continue to promote the setting-up of associations of parliamentarians and scientists in those European countries where they do not as yet exist, with a view to encouraging co-operation and joint activities at European level.