COSAC kwam bijeen in Polen, voorzitterschap wil vertrouwen in EU terugwinnen (en)

On 2^nd-4^th October, the Polish parliament hosted the COSAC i conference, which is a forum for cooperation between the national parliaments of EU Member States, the European Parliament and candidate countries.

This was the biggest event of the parliamentary dimension of the Polish Presidency and was organised jointly by the Sejm and the Senate.

At the COSAC conference, the Secretary of State for European Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, presented the current situation as regards the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council. ‘The greatest achievement of the Polish Presidency is that we have been able to reach a compromise, even on the most difficult issues concerning economic strategy,’ said the minister.

According to Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, the European Union is currently in an identity crisis associated primarily with economic problems, which include the functioning of the common currency and a loss of citizens’ confidence in countries, the financial markets in countries, and Member States in each other.

‘One of the unofficial goals of the Presidency is an attempt to rebuild confidence in the European Union,’ he explained. Mikolaj Dowgielewicz noted that the coming weeks will be a great test for the EU. They will show whether the European Council on 17^thOctober will present a institutional, political and economic strategy that will be credible for citizens and markets.

In the minister’s opinion, the most important achievement of the Polish Presidency is the compromise that was reached on the EU's economic strategy. ‘An example is the six-pack, which we managed to agree with the European Parliament,’ he said. Mikolaj Dowgielewicz explained that the six-pack is the backbone of realistic economic governance in the European Union. In his opinion, the decision to adopt this package puts to rest the idea that the cooperation between EU institutions is ineffective.

The European Commission’s cooperation with national parliaments and the European Parliament after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon was the subject of the address given by European Commission Vice-President responsible for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration Maroš Šefcovic. ‘The European Commission is ready to cooperate, it wants to cooperate,’ Maroš Šefcovic said. The European Commission representative noted that more effective cooperation can be attained if national parliaments realise that they are interdependent.

Parliamentarians from the EU committee of national parliaments also discussed the common security and defence policy, EU-NATO cooperation and EU enlargement plans. Participants also spoke of hopes for the six-pack, adopted recently by the European Parliament, the COSAC conference as an important element of a coordinated EU policy, as well as the cooperation of the Polish Presidency with the European Parliament.

COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union) was founded in 1989 in Madrid. It provides a forum for cooperation between national parliaments of EU Member States and the European Parliament, mainly on the practical aspects of parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs.