Wednesday, 6 June 2012
MP Seminars on the EU Accession Framework and the Role of European Affairs Committees
MPs from various political groups participated in two IPA-TAP Project (Technical Assistance to Parliament) seminars about the Parliament and EU-related topics: The EU Accession Framework and the Role of European Affairs Committees in EU Member States.
The aims of these seminars were to provide the MPs 1) a general understanding of the framework and key challenges of the EU accession process, especially as they relate to the Parliament and its legislative and political tasks during Macedonia’s accession process, and 2) an overview about the different models of European Affairs Committees in EU Member States (their roles, tasks and types of scrutiny/monitoring systems regarding EU affairs).
Speakers at these two seminars included Dr. Peter Sardi (Head of the Office for Foreign Relations, Hungarian National Assembly) Dr. Zoltan Horvath (Project Training Director) and Ms. Inese Birzniece (Project Team Leader). They presented short overviews of these topics together with practical examples from their extensive experience in EU affairs working at the Hungarian and Latvian parliaments, respectively, both before and after Hungary and Latvia joined the EU in 2004. The seminars included an exchange of views between the participating MPs and the presenters, especially regarding the current status of Macedonia’s preparations for EU accession negotiations and EU membership
One more seminar is planned for MPs regarding the experiences of EU accession negotiations in the recent EU Accession (challenges, difficulties and lessons learned). These seminars are particularly aimed at the MPs who are members of the European Affairs Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, the National Council for European Integration, and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (European Union-Republic of Macedonia).
The EU-funded IPA project “Technical Assistance to the Parliament” began its work at the Parliament in January 2011 and will continue for 18 months. A major focus of the project is to assist in the capacity-building of the Parliament staff and committees, especially as to the challenges presented by the EU accession process.