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Parliamentary Cooperation |
Introduction Despite
the recognition that parliaments are an essential component in
the democratic process, the international community has, in the
past, focused most of its assistance toward the governments of
South Eastern Europe (SEE). A recent study by a senior expert
has confirmed that in order to increase the efficiency and transparency
of the governing structures in the region, more attention should
be paid to building legislative capacity and to enhancing parliamentary
cooperation between countries. In
the past, partner organizations of the Stability Pact have already
undertaken several projects aimed at helping MPs to better fulfil
their mandates, and at promoting inter-parliamentary contacts.
The key intergovernmental actors have included the European Parliament
(EP), the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe and
the OSCE (all three together are referred to as the Stability
Pact Parliamentary Troika), OSCE Field Missions and the Office
for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). Regional
institutions or initiatives, in particular the South East European
Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the Cetinje Parliamentary Forum
have also promoted a range of activities. In addition, several
well-known NGOs have been active in this field. Parliamentarians
from each SEE country have welcomed and embraced all the above
activities. The
experience gained as a result of those projects led MPs and senior
parliamentary officials from the region to acknowledge the need
for the Stability Pact to improve the coordination of planned
projects and to propose joint, targeted projects, which could
be undertaken within its framework in the future. With this in
mind, the Stability Pact asked Ms Petra Bläss, former Vice-President
of the German Bundestag, to perform an assessment in order to
define the future objectives of the parliamentary dimension of
the Stability Pact, and to develop a concept for enhanced parliamentary
cooperation activities for 2005. Between February and May of this
year, Ms Bläss made contact with all the parliaments in the
region and identified the key problem areas upon which the Stability
Pact and its partner organisations should concentrate. Findings Her
findings, which will be the subject of a WT I panel discussion
at the Working Table meeting in Portoroz, have confirmed that
there is a strong regional demand for support mechanisms to be
put in place in order to increase the efficiency of parliaments.
The work of the region’s parliaments is faced with many
similar problems, and thus a long-term, regional approach has
been found to be most appropriate. The findings suggest that future
programmes should pursue substantive issues thoroughly, while
at the same time respecting the specific legislative needs of
each country.
In this framework, MPs would appreciate programmes targeted towards:
- assistance
with drafting, adopting, ratifying and controlling the implementation
of legislation;
- assistance
to committees in preparing and reviewing legislation;
- effective
use of parliamentary procedures;
- developing
consensus building expertise;
- increasing
the professional quality of politically neutral parliamentary
staff;
- creating
effective links between elected officials and their constituencies;
- developing
a nexus between civil society and the parliament;
- assistance
in finding solutions to problems of a technical nature.
Priorities From
these findings the Stability Pact envisions focusing its attention
towards:
- promoting
the harmonisation of legislation with EU standards;
- enhancing
the exchange of information on parliamentary cooperation activities;
- developing
links between committees of different parliaments dealing
with similar issues;
- institutionalising
training programmes for newly elected MPs and parliamentary
staff;
- promoting
twinning between parliaments (within the region and between
SEE parliaments and European parliaments, especially new EU
member states with their transformation experiences).
The
Stability Pact could also provide its Task Forces’ expertise,
for example in the sectors of the regional energy market, fighting
organized crime and trafficking, defence issues, media, privatisation,
education and minority rights. Conversely, these Task Forces would
benefit from greater involvement of parliamentarians. Follow-up The
Stability Pact will take account of the priorities mentioned above
as well as the input from the Working Table panel discussion in
Portoroz and present consolidated proposals at its next Regional
Table meeting at the end of this year. In developing the mechanisms
and the technical details, the Stability Pact will work with institutional
partners in each country as well as its partner organisations.
The work of the Stability Pact Parliamentary Cooperation Task
Force will be based on these plans for 2005. 28/05/04
PB/EW/ZS/MDT/JDB |
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