A COSAC elnökeinek találkozója

Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC

Budapest, 28-29 July 2024

In the second half of 2024, Hungary assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second time in thirteen years. This time the presidency takes place in a special period of institutional renewal and transition, characterised by negotiations and issues regarding EU positions to be filled rather than traditional EU legislative tasks. Our task is to ensure continuity during the transition.

As Chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the Hungarian National Assembly, I had the honour to participate in the preparation of the events of the presidency in the Parliament. The Chairpersons’ Meeting of COSAC is held in July and the LXXII COSAC Plenary in October. COSAC was established in 1989 to enable Member States' and European parliamentarians to exchange views on a six-monthly basis, thus strengthening the role of national parliaments in the EU.

The National Assembly's Committee on European Affairs intends to put the Hungarian presidency programme and some of its priorities on the agenda of the two meetings. We wish to place particular emphasis on issues that are important to us: the promotion of enlargement to the Western Balkans and the East, support for European families rather than illegal migration in addressing the demographic challenges in Europe, and the state of the European Union during a year of institutional change. Under the latter item, we intend to review the experiences of the 15-year-old Treaty of Lisbon and the application of the principle of subsidiarity in EU legislation.

Following a decision of the Speaker, the Committee on European Affairs has been monitoring the government's preparation for the presidency for the past year and a half by assessing the reports of the responsible state officials to the committee.

The COSAC meetings are also hosted in the House of Parliament, and participants are offered a variety of cultural events in Budapest. All information on parliamentary events can be found on our presidency website. We wish you a pleasant browsing.

Overview of the conference

One of the most important standing interparliamentary conferences is COSAC, the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union, an acronym derived from the French name Conférence des organes spécialisés dans les affaires communautaires. In May 1989, upon a French initiative, the Speakers of the Parliaments of the European Community meeting in Madrid at the Conference of Speakers, decided to establish COSAC with the aim of strengthening the role of national parliaments in community affairs, in particular with regard to European decision-making processes. The first conference was held in Paris on 16-17 November 1989. COSAC is the only interparliamentary cooperation forum of the European Union recognised and named in the founding treaties of the EU. The Protocol on National Parliaments to the Amsterdam Treaty recognised COSAC, and Article 10 of Protocol (No 1) to the Treaty of Lisbon on the Role of National Parliaments in the European Union provides for COSAC's role and scope.

The current Rules of Procedure of COSAC were adopted in the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Hungarian presidency at the XLV COSAC Plenary Session, held on 29-31 May 2011 in the Hungarian National Assembly. During each rotating presidency, one COSAC plenary session and one preparatory COSAC chairpersons' meeting are organised by the parliament of the Member State holding the presidency. Representatives of EU national parliaments and of the European Parliament participate in the session as members, and candidate countries may be represented as observers, and representatives of other European countries may also attend as special guests.

The COSAC plenary session may adopt non-binding Contributions on substantive issues and Conclusions on procedural issues.

At COSAC sessions, the Hungarian National Assembly is represented by the presidency of the Committee on European Affairs. Representatives of the Hungarian National Assembly's Committee on European Affairs have been attending COSAC sessions since November 1997.

In the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Hungarian presidency, the Chairpersons' Meeting of COSAC, the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union, will take place on 28-29 July 2024 (Sunday-Monday) at the Hungarian National Assembly in Budapest. Following the preparatory Chairpersons' Meeting, the LXXII COSAC Plenary Session will be organised by the Hungarian National Assembly on 27-29 October 2024 (Sunday-Tuesday), also in the House of Parliament.

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