Inclusion in the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure of a new rule on co-operation with the European Parliament
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text adopted by the Standing Committee acting on behalf of the Assembly on 17 March 2006 (see Doc.10784, report of the Committee on Rules of Procedure and Immunities, rapporteur: Mr Cebeci).
- Thesaurus
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls that in the Warsaw Declaration of May 2005 the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe member states resolved to create a new framework for enhanced co-operation and interaction between the Council of Europe and the European Union in areas of common concern, in particular human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
2. In this connection it welcomes the fact that in recent years the relations between the European Parliament (EP) and the Parliamentary Assembly have been strengthened and that several new means of co-operation have been introduced.
3. The Assembly notes that, contrary to the EP, the Rules of Procedure of the Parliamentary Assembly do not contain a provision on its relations with the EP.
4. The Assembly considers that such a rule would be useful for several reasons. In addition to creating a symmetry between the practice of the EP and the Assembly, a new provision on co-operation with the EP would have a political and a symbolic character. The rule would in particular be an expression of the special relationship between the Council of Europe and the European Union. For fifty years (1952-2002) this relationship was governed by a specific legal instrument, the 1951 Protocol to the Paris Treaty instituting the European Coal and Steel Community.
5. Consequently, the Assembly decides to insert the following new rule in its Rules of Procedure after Rule 61:
6. “Co-operation with the European Parliament
6.1 The Bureau of the Assembly shall, in agreement with the relevant organ of the European Parliament (Conference of Presidents), decide the arrangements for co-operation of both institutions.
6.2 On the basis of these arrangements, the Assembly’s bodies, particularly the committees, may co-operate with their counterparts of the European Parliament in fields of mutual interest.”
7. It also decides that the new rule shall enter into force on its adoption by the Assembly.
