.png)
Zagreb - Commissioner Dubravka Šuica addressed the participants during the second session of the COSAC meeting. She highlighted the importance of partnership between the European Commission and the national parliaments, achieved through political dialogue and other instruments arising from the Treaties.
She added that national parliaments played a central role in connecting citizens and European institutions, noting that the new Commission was committed to further strengthening the cooperation with national parliaments.
The Commissioner presented the Conference on the Future of Europe, which is set to begin in May 2020, and emphasised the key role that the national parliaments would have in the preparation and implementation of the Conference over the next two years that the Conference is expected to run. She confirmed that the Commission would publish a Communication on 22 January and called upon the national parliaments to join the political dialogue. She also outlined the next steps in the preparation of the Conference and emphasised the need to gain wide support of the institutions and all stakeholders involved in the preparation and implementation of the Conference in order to ensure its success.
Mairead McGuinness, the First Vice-President of the European Parliament in charge of relations with national parliaments, addressed the participant next. Speaking of the Conference, McGuiness pointed out the importance of collaboration between national parliaments and the European Parliament as institutions that represent citizens. She also noted that despite the demanding preparations for a successful Conference, its motto remained simple – the Conference is a forum where we will listen to each other.
In the course of the discussion, the representatives agreed that it was necessary for national parliaments to actively engage in the Conference, but also expressed the need to adopt a coordinated approach that would ensure better results than similar initiatives in the past.