COSAC

COSAC
Name	COSAC
Native name	Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union
Formation	1989
Type	Interparliamentary body
Headquarters	Various (rotating)
Region served	European Union
Membership	National parliaments of member states
Website	(not provided)

COSAC

COSAC is an interparliamentary forum linking national parliaments of the European Union and committees with competence in European Union affairs. It facilitates dialogue among representatives from the European Parliament, national legislatures such as the Bundestag, the Assemblée nationale, the Cortes Generales, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom (historic) before accession changes, while engaging with institutions like the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. The forum meets to exchange information, formulate non-binding opinions, and influence processes tied to key instruments including the Lisbon Treaty, the Maastricht Treaty, and the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Overview

COSAC convenes chairs and members of parliamentary committees from the legislative bodies of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Greece, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, Slovakia (duplicate removed), and other member states as membership evolves. Participation also includes delegations from the European Parliament and occasional input from the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. Meetings rotate with the trio presidency of the Council of the European Union and gather in capitals such as Prague, Warsaw, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Vienna, Lisbon, and Athens.

History and Development

The initiative that led to COSAC emerged from interparliamentary cooperation during the late 1980s amid reforms following the Single European Act and the deliberations that produced the Maastricht Treaty. Early exchanges involved legislators from the European Parliament meeting counterparts in national assemblies like the Storting and the Dáil Éireann to address the deepening of European integration signposted by the Schengen Agreement and the European Monetary System. COSAC was formally established to institutionalize these contacts, expanding after successive enlargements involving countries such as Poland and Hungary after the European Union enlargement of 2004, and later Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, and Croatia in 2013. Over time COSAC adapted to treaty changes including provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon that affected interparliamentary dialogue and subsidiarity monitoring.

Structure and Membership

COSAC is composed of delegations from national parliaments and the European Parliament, typically led by chairs of parliamentary committees responsible for European affairs. National delegations vary in size according to rules adopted at COSAC meetings, reflecting the composition of assemblies such as the House of Commons, the Senate of France, the Bundesrat, the Senate of the Republic (Italy), and the Sejm. Administrative support comes from the secretariats of participating parliaments as well as ad hoc presidencies aligned with the trio of the Council of the European Union presidency. The body has no permanent supranational secretariat analogous to the European Commission; instead coordination relies on rotating arrangements and the secretariats of national legislatures like the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe when hosting.

Functions and Activities

COSAC’s core functions include exchanging information, issuing contributions and opinion statements, and coordinating scrutiny of European Union proposals under procedures such as the early warning subsidiarity mechanism introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. Activities range from biannual plenary meetings, thematic seminars, and workshops on dossiers including the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the European Single Market, the Schengen Area, and the European Green Deal topics addressed at sessions involving entities like the European Central Bank and the European Investment Bank. COSAC also produces "contributions" that synthesize parliamentary positions for presentation to the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, and facilitates bilateral and multilateral exchanges between national committees such as the Foreign Affairs Committee (UK House of Commons) and counterparts like the Foreign Affairs Committee (European Parliament).

Key Decisions and Impact

While COSAC’s outputs are non-binding, its decisions and contributions have shaped parliamentary scrutiny and public debate on dossiers including the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the scrutiny of EU enlargement processes, and responses to crises such as the European sovereign debt crisis and the refugee crisis. Statements issued at presidencies in capitals like Berlin, Brussels, Rome, and Paris have influenced national parliamentary resolutions and sparked engagement with supranational institutions such as the European Commission and the European Parliament committees. COSAC’s role in coordinating subsidiarity referrals amplified the capacity of national parliaments including the Senate of Poland and the Senate of France to register formal objections to legislative proposals, thereby affecting legislative timetables in the Council of the European Union.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics have argued that COSAC lacks enforcement power and a permanent secretariat, limiting its influence compared with bodies like the European Commission and the European Parliament. Debates have arisen over representation—whether delegations from assemblies like the Bundestag and the Sejm adequately reflect party balances—and over transparency issues highlighted during presidencies in cities such as Vienna and Athens. Some commentators linked COSAC’s limited public profile to broader tensions between national legislatures and supranational actors during events like the Brexit referendum and contentious treaty negotiations. Proposals to reform COSAC’s procedures, including stronger coordination with the European Parliament and more systematic subsidiarity monitoring, have been considered but not uniformly adopted by participant legislatures.

Category:Interparliamentary organizations