EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Strasbourg, 27 September 2011
CONFERENCE OF COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Meeting of 27 September 2011, Strasbourg
Minutes
The meeting opened at 14.00 with Mr LEHNE in the chair.
1. Adoption of draft agenda (PE 453.449rev)
The Chair welcomed Mrs Barbara Lochbihler, new Chair of the subcommittee on
Human Rights in replacement to Mrs Heidi Hautalà.
The draft agenda was adopted.
2. Adoption of recommendations concerning the agenda for the October II
(Monday 24 to Thursday 27 October 2011) part-session
The Conference of Committee Chairs approved the list of reports and oral questions
that the committees wished to have entered on the agenda for the October II (Monday
24 to Thursday 27 October 2011) part-session with the following changes:
- Request from the ECON committee for the inclusion of two oral questions, one on
the "European Semester 2011: First Lessons" and another one on the "Compatibility
of the German and British Tax Agreements with Switzerland with the EU Savings
Tax Directive";
Furthermore, ECON committee required the scheduling of the appointment of a new
member of the ECB Executive Board for the October I part-session.
Taking into account these requests and remarks the Conference of Committee Chairs
invited its Chair to submit its recommendation to the Conference of Presidents.
3. Adoption of a recommendation concerning requests for authorisation to
draw up own-initiative reports
The main file includes:
- two letters of 01.09.2011 and 13.09.2011 from Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the
IMCO Committee;
- a letter of 20.09.2011 from Mrs PACK, Chair of the CULT Committee;
- two letters of 20.09.2011 from Mrs JÁRÓKA, acting Chair of the FEMM
Committee.
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The supplementary file includes:
- a list of own-initiative requests;
- a letter of 26.09.2011 from Mrs JOLY, Chair of the DEVE Committee;
- two letters of 22 and 27.09.2011 from Mrs BOWLES, Chair of the ECON
Committee;
- a letter of 23.09.2011 from Mr LEHNE, Chair of the JURI Committee;
- a letter of 21.09.2011 from Mrs JÁRÓKA, Vice-Chair of the FEMM Committee.
The Conference noted that there were 5 requests of which 2 could not be immediately
endorsed: one due to a contestation of competence, and one because of a pending
request for association under Rule 50.
The Conference of Committee Chairs approved 3 new requests for authorisation to
draw up own-initiative reports (ECON, IMCO and FEMM), took note of two
notifications (FEMM and AFET), one modification of report type (JURI), and one
withdrawal (FEMM) of a report already authorised.
It invited the CHAIR to forward them to the Conference of Presidents for information
or final authorisation.
4. Preparation of the meeting of the Conference of Committee Chairs with the
College of Commissioners
The main file includes:
- Annex IV of the Framework Agreement: Timetable for the Commission's Work
Programme
- a letter of 30.06.2011 from Mr BUZEK, President of the European Parliament, to
Mr BARROSO, President of the European Commission on the Commission's
Work Programme for 2012;
- a letter of 19.07.2011 from Mr ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European
Commission, and its Annex, to Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference of
Committee Chairs;
- a letter of 22.07.2011 from Mr BARROSO, President of the European
Commission, to Mr BUZEK, President of the European Parliament, on the
Commission's Work Programme for 2012;
- a letter of 14.09.2011 from Mr BUZEK, President of the European Parliament, to
Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference of Committee Chairs, on the joint meeting
of the Conference of Committee Chairs and the College of Commissioners.
The supplementary file includes:
- a letter of 22.09.2011 from Mr LEHNE, to Mr BARROSO, President of the
European Commission on the Commission's Work Programme;
- a note of 22.09.2011 from the Secretariat of the Conference of Committee Chairs,
outlining the structure of the meeting.
The Conference held an exchange of views on the preparation of the meeting of the
Conference of Committee Chairs with the College of Commissioners.
The CHAIR explained that the meeting would be split into two parts, the first part
concerning a broad political debate about the crisis and job creation and the second
part involving specific issues about the main planks of the 2012 Commission Work
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Programme. The CHAIR observed that every committee should focus on one topic to
make the debate more manageable.
The CHAIR informed the Conference that the Chairs could be accompanied by their
Head of Unit and that a cocktail with the Commissioners would take place
immediately after the meeting.
A brief exchange of views among Committee Chairs took place involving the
participation of Ms STRIFFLER, Vice-Chair of the DEVE committee, Mr CASINI,
Chair of the AFCO committee, Ms BOWLES, Chair of the ECON committee,
Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO committee.
The following suggestions were brought to the attention of the Chair:
-
-
broadening the debate including the effects of economic crisis at world level;
incorporating in the debate the role of the European institutions regarding the
Euro-zone governance on the one hand, and the interaction between long-term
investment and tighter financial regulation on the other;
in view of the next European Council, stimulating the debate on the contribution
of the new policies for growth;
5. Exchange of views with Mr Miguel Angel MARTINEZ MARTINEZ, VicePresident of the European Parliament, Chair of the Steering Group on the
National Parliaments, on the relations between parliamentary committees
and National Parliament
The main file includes:
- a letter of 15.09.2011 from Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference of Committee
Chairs, to Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ, Vice-President of the European
Parliament;
- Excerpt of the EP resolution of 6 April 2011 on the Estimates of revenue and
expenditure for 2012 (Parliament);
- a letter of 15.12.2010 from Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference of Committee
Chairs, to Mr BUZEK, President of the European Parliament, on the Common
Approach adopted by the CCC on 14 December for the treatment of reasoned
opinions and other contributions of national parliaments;
- State of play of reasoned opinions.
The Conference held an exchange of views with Mr Miguel Angel MARTÍNEZ
MARTÍNEZ about the relations with national Parliaments.
Mr Miguel Angel MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ recognized that on the multilateral level
the relations with national Parliaments are going through a phase of significant
tension in certain areas; however he acknowledged that the cooperation at the
committee level is very positive and contribute to the improvement of the relation
with national Parliaments.
Mr MARTINEZ MARTINEZ declared that one of the main interests of the Steering
group is to promote this cooperation with the national parliaments and he thanked
Mr CASINI for the successful collaboration with AFCO.
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The Chair of the Steering group also explained that a calendar of intra-parliamentary
meetings was adopted in order to better organize the activity and he also expressed the
plan to draw up an annual report in terms of inter-parliamentary cooperation for
which he requested the collaboration of the Committees.
Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ explained that, following the adoption on 6 April 2011
of the resolution on the state of expenditures and revenue of the for 2012, the annual
report will focus on how to improve the dialogue between EP and national
parliaments and to ensure that resources are used in an appropriate way.
The Chair of the group stressed on the difficulties in the relationship between the EP
and national Parliaments due to the fact that it is necessary to reconcile one single
body as the EP with national Parliaments, which are very heterogeneous. However,
Mr MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ also stressed some positive achievements, such as the
implementation of the Protocol II on the principle of subsidiarity and interparliamentary cooperation between Committees.
He explained that, since the entry into force of The Lisbon Treaty, the national
parliaments tend to broadly interpret the Protocol II on subsidiarity. He noted that the
EP received 62 reasoned opinions plus around 600 contributions on the content.
Concerning the inter-parliamentary cooperation between committees, he stressed on
the very effective cooperation in the fields of the budget and the Economic Semester
and he mentioned the difficulties for the cooperation in the security and defence area
occurred in the context of the COSAC meetings and the Conference of Speakers
meetings.
The Conference held an exchange of views showing a general agreement on the
importance to build a positive relation with national Parliaments.
Mr BERLINGUER, Vice-Chair of the JURI stressed how his committee works to
guarantee the application of the Protocol on the principle of the subsidiarity. He gave
a positive opinion on how the system concerning the reasoned opinion is working and
he pointed out that the relation between the EP and national Parliaments must be
mutual.
He especially stressed the need for the EP to be heard by the national parliaments with
regard to the application and the transposition of the EU law underlining that the EP
must be able to address to national Parliaments on the consistency of the legislation
adopted transposing EU legislation.
Mr LEINEN, Chair of the ENVI committee, recognized that there are clashes in the
relation between the EP and national Parliaments, but he stressed that in certain areas,
such as the environment field, the national Parliaments have generally accepted that
legislation comes from the EU and the ENVI committee does not receive reasoned
opinions.
Ms BERES, Chair of the EMPL committee, stressed on the opportunity, in general
terms, to take into account the important political debates which actually take place in
the national Parliaments, avoiding a marginalisation of the EP role and making the
national parliaments EP allies in the political fight against intergovernmentalism.
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Mr LAMASSOURE, Chair of the BUDG committee, raised a point about applying
Protocol II to the budget procedure and explained that the eight weeks deadline
cannot be applied as it clashes with the deadlines of the annual budget procedure.
He also observed that there has been quantitative progress in the relation between
national Parliaments and the EU but that a qualitative improvement still needs to be
made in fields where the EU has specific competences or in the new fields such as the
economic governance.
In the view of Mr MOREIRA, Chair of the INTA committee, conflicts occur because
of the shared competences between the EP and national Parliaments. He noted that in
those areas such as International trade where competences are exclusive to the EU,
conflicts do not arise. Besides, he expressed the opinion that the EP should encourage
cooperation with national Parliaments.
Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO committee, pointed out the great involvement of
his committee in the relations with national Parliaments and underlined that the
experience of IMCO committee shows a genuine interest to improve this cooperation
at the stage in which the legislation is under the EP consideration and at the stage of
the implementation of EU directives.
Finally, Ms BOWLES, Chair of the ECON committee, noted that after the euro-zone
crisis we faced a rise of the intergovernmentalism and consequently, a battle to
maintain the community method. She shared her experiences in the framework of the
adoption of the "six package" and of the European semester and she stressed that
fostering relations with national Parliaments is part of the fight against
intergovernmentalism.
The CHAIR commented that the work of committees is hardly facilitated by certain
factors, such as the lack of advanced information regarding the work of the
Presidency or the time-pressure for the adoption of some sensitive legislative acts, and
that consequently little time is left for the debate on the legislative proposals.
He advised that, regarding the relation with national Parliaments, the committees
should focus on doing what is possible for them without trying to go beyond its limits.
Finally, the CHAIR concluded the exchange of views by reminding the Committee
Chairs about the resolution of 6 April 2011 on the state of expenditures and revenue
of the EP budget for 2012 which requires an analysis on current links between
parliamentary committees and national parliaments, and invited the Chairs to provide
the secretariat with their comments and assessments.
6. Interpretation of Rule 192 of the Rules of Procedure: 'Committee
Coordinators and Shadow Rapporteurs'
-
the interpretation of Rule 192 adopted on 13 September 2011;
a letter of 12.07.2011 from Mr CASINI, Chair of the AFCO Committee, to
Mr BUZEK, President of the European Parliament;
a letter of 28.03.2011 from Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference of Committee
Chairs, to Mr CASINI, Chair of the AFCO Committee.
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Mr CASINI, Chair of the AFCO Committee, reminded that there was a request of
interpretation of Rule 192 as regards the presence of non-attached members at
coordinators meetings.
The Conference held an exchange of views involving the participation of Ms PACK,
Chair of the CULT committee, Mr LEINEN, Chair of the ENVI committee,
Mr LAMASSOURE, Chair of the BUDG committee, Mr LOPEZ AGUILLAR, Chair
of the LIBE committee, Ms BOWLES, Chair of the ECON committee and
Mr MOREIRA, Chair INTA of the committee.
The debate showed a general agreement on the interpretation given by AFCO, notably
on the fact that non-attached members should not be granted the right to attend
coordinators meetings as they cannot express the political line of a group.
However, the Chairs agreed that non-attached members have the right to be informed
of the decisions taken, by granting the presence of a staff member or in writing if
necessary.
7. Amendments in consent procedures
The supplementary file includes:
- a reflexion paper and annex prepared by the Secretariat of the Conference of
Committee Chairs.
The Chair suggested to note the reflection paper and to discuss it at the next
Conference of Committee Chairs meeting.
8. Calendar of the ordinary meetings of the Conference of Committee Chairs in
2012
The main file includes:
- a draft calendar for 2012.
The Chair noted that one of the meetings is scheduled on Wednesday 18 April, since
the April part-session will only resume on Tuesday 17 April.
The Conference of Committee Chairs approved the calendar of the ordinary meetings
in 2012.
9. Modalities of cooperation between committees
9.1. Application of Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure: 'Procedure with
associated committees'
The main file includes:
- a list of the requests for procedure with associated committees;
- a letter of 13.09.2011 from Mr LEINEN, Chair of the ENVI Committee.
The supplementary file includes:
- a letter of 27.09.2011 from Mrs BOWLES, Chair of the ECON Committee;
- a letter of 23.09.2011 from Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO Committee;
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-
a letter of 27.09.2011 from Mrs HÜBNER, Chair of the DEVE Committee;
a letter of 27.09.2011 from Mrs FRAGA ESTÉVEZ, Chair of the PECH
Committee.
In the absence of an agreement, the examination of the following requests was
postponed to the next meeting:
- Taxation of energy products and electricity: restructuring the Community
framework (ETD) (amend. Directive 2003/96/EC)
Committee responsible ECON, ITRE requests application of Rule 50;
- Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights;
Committee responsible IMCO, INTA requests application of Rule 50 and JURI
requests application of Rule 51;
- Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020
Committee responsible: ENVI, AGRI requests application of Rule 50;
- The Implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive 2008/48/EC
Committee responsible: IMCO, ECON requests application of Rule 50.
In the absence of an agreement, the Chair was authorised to submit a recommendation
to the Conference of Presidents on the following files:
- Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
Common Fisheries Policy
Committee responsible PECH, ENVI requests application of Rule 50;
The following request for Rule 50 was annulled due to a withdrawal of the authorisation
request by the requesting committee (REGI):
-
The role of public procurement in Cohesion Policy
Committee responsible: REGI, CONT requests application of Rule 50;
9.2. Application of Rule 51 of the Rules of Procedure: 'Procedure with joint
committees'
The main file includes:
- a list of the requests for procedure with joint committees.
The Conference took note of the following request:
-
Critical Information Infrastructure Position. Achievements and next steps: towards
global cybersecurity.
Committee responsible: ITRE. LIBE requests application of Rule 51.
In the absence of an agreement, the Chair was authorised to submit a recommendation
to the Conference of Presidents.
9.3. Conflicts of competence
The main file includes:
- a list of conflicts of competence;
- a letter of 12.09.2011 from Mrs BOWLES, Chair of the ECON Committee.
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The supplementary file includes:
- a letter of 23.09.2011 from Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO Committee.
The Conference noted the dual request from ECON and IMCO for authorization to
draw up legislative initiative reports on Access to Basic Banking Services.
The point was postponed to the next meeting.
10. Chair's announcements
10.1. Negotiations on correlation tables
The CHAIR announced that a joint proposal from Commission and Council is
expected for tomorrow, 28 September.
He explained that the text will count of three different statements:
- Joint statement from Member States and Commission by which Members States will
accept that the Commission is responsible for the monitoring implementation;
- Joint statement from Council and Parliament on which an agreement will possibly
find tomorrow;
- Joint statement from Council, Commission and Parliament.
The CHAIR pointed out that according to the draft agreement whenever the
Commission asks for correlation tables this requirement will be included in a recital
rather than an article and this agreement will apply to pending and future proposals.
10.2. Invitation of Mr Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Polish Secretary of State for
European affairs and economic policy in October
The Conference of Committee Chairs agreed to invite Mr Mikolaj Dowgielewicz,
Polish Secretary of State for European affairs and economic policy in October.
10.3. Invitation of Mr Guerrero Salom, AFCO rapporteur on Revision Rule 70,
in October
The Conference of Committee Chairs agreed to invite Mr Guerrero Salom, at the next
meeting.
10. 4 Programme of travel by inter-parliamentary delegations in 2012
The supplementary file includes:
- Bureau Decision of 2 October 2000 on "travel by Committee Delegations outside
the three places of work of the European Parliament";
- Decision of the Conference of Presidents of 30 March 2011 on "Implementing
provisions Governing the work of Delegations".
The CHAIR reminded the Conference that a deadline for submitting the draft annual
delegation programmes has been set as 11 October with view to adopt the programme
at the Conference of Committee Chairs' meeting of 25 October 2011.
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11. Urgent matters and any other business
None.
12. Documents for information
12.1. Information report on ongoing negotiations in ordinary legislative
procedures
The supplementary fail includes
- a table on codecision/ordinary legislative procedure files currently under
negotiation in view of early agreement.
12.2. Early approvals of draft comitology measures (regulatory procedure with
scrutiny)
None
12.3. Other documents for information
The main file includes:
- a letter of 13.09.2011 from Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO Committee, on
the Common Understanding on Delegated Acts;
- a letter of 20.09.2011 from Mr HARBOUR, Chair of the IMCO Committee, on a
request for the application of the procedure with associated committees on the
Proposal for a regulation on roaming on public mobile communications networks
within the Union.
The supplementary file includes
- a letter of 23.09.2011 from Mrs HÜBNER, Chair of the REGI Committee, on a
delegation visit to the United Kingdom;
- a letter of 27.09.2011 from Mr LEHNE, Chair of the Conference Committee
Chairs to Mr CASINI, Chair of the AFCO Committee on the application of Rule
50 concerning the procedure with associated committees.
13. Date and place of next meeting
The Chair informed the Conference that the next ordinary meeting would take place
on Tuesday 25 October at 14.00 in Strasbourg.
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RECORD OF ATTENDANCE
ANNEX
COMMITTEE
I
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Mr Gabriele ALBERTINI
II
Committee on Development
Mrs Michèle STRIFFLER acting
III
Committee on International Trade
Mr Vital MOREIRA
IV
Committee on Budgets
Mr Alain LAMASSOURE
V
Committee on Budgetary Control
-----
VI
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Mrs Sharon BOWLES
VII
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Mrs Pervenche BERÈS
VIII
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food
Safety
Mr Jo LEINEN
IX
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Mr Herbert REUL
X
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer
Protection
Mr Malcom HARBOUR
XI
Committee on Transport and Tourism
Mr Brian SIMPSON
XII
Committee on Regional Development
Mrs Danuta Maria HÜBNER
from 15h00 Mr Michail TREMOPOULOS acting
XIII
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Mr Paolo DE CASTRO
XIV
Committee on Fisheries
Mrs Carmen FRAGA ESTÉVEZ
XV
Committee on Culture and Education
Mrs Doris PACK
XVI
Committee on Legal Affairs
Mr Klaus-Heiner LEHNE
Mr Luigi BERLINGUER Vice-Chair
XVII
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Mr Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR
XVIII
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Mr Carlo CASINI
XIX
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Mrs Livia JÁRÓKA acting
XX
Committee on Petitions
----
Subcommittee on Human Rights
Mrs Barbara LOCHBIHLER
Subcommittee on Security and Defence
Mr Arnaud DANJEAN
Present for items 2 and 3:
Commission representatives: Mrs PREISING and Mr BARANY
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