MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TROIKA OF COSAC

Stockholm, 5 July 2009

PRESENT AT THE MEETING:

IN THE CHAIR: Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA (Riksdag, Sweden)Ms Susanne EBERSTEIN (Riksdag, Sweden), Mr Luděk SEFZIG (Senát, Czech Republic),Ms Kateřina JACQUES (Poslaneckásněmovna,Czech Republic), Mr Miguel ARIASCAÑETE(CortesGenerales,Spain), Mr Jo LEINEN (European Parliament).

AGENDA:

1. Opening of the proceedings and adoption of the agenda of the Troika Meeting2. Adoption of the draft agenda of the Chairpersons’ Meeting3. Debate and adoption of the draft agenda for the XLII COSAC Meeting – Invitation ofspecial guests4. Adoption of the Outline of the 12th Bi-annual Report5. Subsidiarity checks – update6. Co-financing of the permanent member of the COSAC Secretariat and the costs of runningthe COSAC office and website and the appointment of the permanent member7. Letters received by the Presidency8. AOB

PROCEEDINGS:

1. Opening of the proceedings and adoption of the agenda of the Troika Meeting

The meeting was chaired by Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA, Chairperson of the Committee onEuropean Union Affairs of the SwedishRiksdag,who welcomed the delegations andpresented the agenda of the meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC (henceforth "theTroika").The agenda was unanimously adopted as set out above.

2. Adoption of the draft agenda of the COSAC Chairpersons’ Meeting

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA outlined the agenda of the Meeting of the COSACChairpersons. The draft agenda was unanimously approved as proposed by the Presidency.

3. Debate and adoption of the draft agenda for the XLII COSAC Meeting

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA presented the draft agenda of the XLII COSAC Meeting, to beheld on 4-6 October 2009 in Stockholm.-

Invitation of special guests to the XLII COSAC Meeting

Referring to the practice of previous Presidencies and to Article 4.3 of the Rules of Procedureof COSAC, Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA announced the intention of the SwedishPresidency to invite representatives of the Parliaments of Norway and Iceland as specialguests because of the close link of these countries to the topics on the draft agenda of theXLII COSAC Meeting.1

The Troika approved the draft agenda of the XLII COSAC Meeting and supported theintention of the Presidency to invite special guests from the Parliaments of Iceland andNorway.

4. Adoption of the Outline of the 12th Bi-annual Report

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA presented the draft outline of the 12th Bi-annual Report. TheChairperson reminded the Troika of a letter from Mr Svend AUKEN, Chairman of theEuropean Affairs Committee of the DanishFolketing,in which he requested to examinemore closely in the next Bi-annual Report of COSAC the different practises in nationalparliaments regarding their access to Council documents received from governments.Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA noted that this request went somewhat beyond the initial focusof the 12th Bi-annual Report. It covered, however, an interesting aspect and she suggestedreflecting it in the questionnaire for the Bi-annual Report. The Troika approved the draftoutline as proposed by the Presidency.

5. Subsidiarity checks – update

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA gave an up-date concerning the COSAC-coordinatedsubsidiarity checks. There are two pending proposals, which were selected for subsidiarychecks and should be handled as soon as they are published.First,the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on theapplicable law, jurisdiction, recognition of decisions and administrative measures in thearea of successions and wills,whose adoption by the Commission was postponed severaltimes and is foreseen for 14 October 2009.Second,the Proposal for a Framework Decision on procedural rights in criminalproceedings,which should be adopted by the Commission on 8 July 2009.Given that timing, the subsidiarity check on theProposal for a Framework Decision onprocedural rights in criminal proceedingscould be carried out before the XLII COSAC andits result could be discussed at the XLII COSAC meeting based on a report written by theCOSAC Secretariat. To achieve that it would be necessary to carry out the subsidiarity checkwithin eight weeks from the publication of the last language version, regardless of summerrecess in national parliaments and in line with the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon.Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA stated that the eight-week deadline running during the summermonths could pose serious problems to some parliaments. She recalled an informalcommitment from the European Commission to disregard the four weeks of August incounting the eight-week deadline for national parliaments to deliver their reasoned opinions.She concluded that opting for the eight plus four weeks deadline would make it impossible todiscuss the results of the subsidiarity check at the XLII COSAC in October as it would beimpossible for the COSAC Secretariat to finalise the Report on time.After an exchange of views with other members of the Troika, Ms Anna KINBERG BATRAasked the COSAC Secretariat to carry out an informal survey of the opinions of the COSAC

delegations and concluded that the decision should be kept open until the Chairpersons´Meeting the following day.

6. Co-financing of the permanent member of the COSAC Secretariat and the costs of

running the COSAC office and website and the appointment of the permanent member

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA introduced the proposals of the Swedish Presidency laid downin the Note on co-financing of the permanent member of the COSAC Secretariat and thecosts of running the office and website of COSAC and the appointment of the permanentmember: to continue the present co-financing scheme until 31 December 2011, to invitenational parliaments to send to the COSAC Presidency in office a letter of intent, indicatingtheir willingness to participate in the co-financing scheme until 31 December 2011, toappoint the permanent member of the COSAC Secretariat for the next term of office at theXLII COSAC in Stockholm, and to coordinate the term of office of the permanent memberwith the co-financing scheme.The Troika supported the Presidency proposal.

7. Letters received by the Presidency

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA presented three letters received by the Presidency.In his letter Mr Milan URBÁNI, the Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of theSlovakianNárodná rada,suggested restricting the number of substantial points and givingmore time for the discussions so that the results of the COSAC meetings could be moredetailed and concrete. Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA noted that all delegations wishing tointervene should be able to do so and that Mr URBÁNI's suggestion in that sense goes alongwith the general intention of the Swedish Presidency.The proposal stemming from the letter of Mr Svend AUKEN, the Chairman of theCommittee on European Affairs of the DanishFolketing,had already been presented before,under the topic of the 12th Bi-annual Report, and had been accepted.In his letter Mr Česlovas Vytautas STANKEVIČIUS, the Chairman of the Committee onEuropean Affairs of the LithuanianSeimas,proposed the exchange of views within theCOSAC on the modalities of the establishment of the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly.In relation to this request, Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA referred to a specific meetingorganised by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the SwedishRiksdagon the parliamentarydimension to the Eastern Partnership which will take place on 21 October 2009 inStockholm. The Troika had understanding for the initiative of Mr STANKEVIČIUS ingeneral but proposed to wait for the results of the October interparliamentary meeting beforecoming back to this topic in COSAC.

8. AOB

Ms Anna KINBERG BATRA recalled the 20th anniversary of the COSAC, which theSwedish Presidency would like to celebrate in an appropriate way during the XLII COSACMeeting in Stockholm.