EU pledges to reinforce cooperation with national parliaments

European Commission should intensify political dialogue with national parliaments to share their comments on commission documents, European Commission Vice- President Maros Sefcovic said on Friday.

"It is so important to continue and to intensify our political dialogue, which enables national parliaments to share with us their comments on all commission documents,"Sefcovic told a conference on the new role of national parliaments under the Lisbon Treaty held on Friday.

With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, informal dialogue between the European Commission and national parliaments has been reinforced. The commission has committed to transmit directly to national parliaments its new proposals and invite them to make comments. The commission then has to reply to all opinions and to take the parliaments'views into account.

"First of all, we have to create and maintain a climate of openness, mutual respect, and effective co-operation," Sefcovic said.

The vice president noted that the commission sees itself as a "facilitator" of the parliamentary search for information, and for cooperation between parliaments. He also welcomed the presence in Brussels of the representatives of the national parliaments, as it creates an important network for cooperation.

"Secondly, we need political contact and debate," Sefcovic said, noting he will visit all 40 chambers and ask his colleagues to intensify contacts with national parliaments.

According to Sefcovic, national parliaments and the commission should promote better cooperation on two important issues, namely the European Union (EU) 2020 Strategy and economic governance, as well as the EU's budget review.

The commission also suggested creating a "development and investment partnership contract" based on a common strategic framework.

In order to increase the transparency of how the EU is funded, the commission put forward the option of reducing member states' contributions by progressively introducing new own resources such as a share of a financial activities tax or auctioning of green house gas emission allowances.

Source: Xinhua