Vienna – Within the parliamentary dimension framework of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union LX COSAC, Conference of the Committees of the National Parliaments of the European Union Member States dealing with the European Union affairs, meeting was held in Vienna, 18 to 20 November 2018.
Domagoj Ivan Milošević, Chair of the European Affairs Committee and Davor Ivo Stier, Member of the Committee participated at the Meeting which was co-chaired by Reinhold Lopatka and Christian Buchmann, Chairperson of the Standing Sub-Committee on EU Affairs of the National Council and the Chairperson of the Committee on EU Affairs of the Federal Council.
The assembled representatives of the European Affairs Committees of the European Union Member States, the European Parliament and the National Parliaments of the candidate countries, potential candidates and special guests discussed the state of play of the Austrian Presidency of the Council the EU, Brexit, climate policy and Energy Union, as well as a transparent European Union closer to its citizens. Topics dominating all debates were Brexit and migration as the biggest challenges the Union is currently faced with.
In the margins of the COSAC meeting, Domagoj Ivan Milošević, Chair of the European Affairs Committee and Markus Töns, Vice-Chair of the Committee of European Affairs in the German Bundestag met with Mairead McGuinness, First Vice-President of the European Parliament and discussed the importance of adopting the European Parliament's calendar for 2020 before dissolving the EP for the European elections to be held in May next year. Namely, the calendar of the European Parliament is important for planning the parliamentary dimension of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Croatia and Germany preside over the Council in 2020. The European Affairs Committee will host, among other events, the two COSAC meetings in the first half of 2020. McGuinness has expressed her willingness to convey the common Croatian-German call to the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament.
LX COSAC meeting was concluded by adoption of the Contributions and Conclusions, final documents that translate COSAC's views on the topics of the meeting to the institutions of the European Union. The Delegation of the European Affairs Committee has amended the COSAC Contribution text including the reference to Schengen's enlargement as an important factor in the protection of the EU's external borders, which is Croatian strategic priority. The proposal of the Croatian parliamentary delegation was also accepted in the part of the Contribution dedicated to digitalization of the EU, calling for the development of the regulatory framework in line with rapid technological progress.
The COSAC meeting in Vienna was the last in the parliamentary dimension of the Austrian presidency of the Council of the EU. On 1 January 2019, Romania will take over as the first state of the three presidencies together with Finland and Croatia. The meeting of the COSAC chairs will take place in Bucharest on 20 and 21 January 2019.