COSAC Brussels 2024
The European Parliament will be represented by a six-Member Delegation co-chaired by the First Vice-President of the European Parliament, Mr. Othmar Karas (EPP, AT), and the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), Salvatore De Meo (EPP, IT). The Delegation will further comprise four Members of the European Parliament: Evangelos-Vasileios Meimarakis (EPP, EL), Marc Angel (S&D, LU), Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, ES) and Helmut Scholz (The Left, DE). They will be accompanied by staff from DG PART, DG IPOL, political groups, and others.
The plenary meeting of the LXXI COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for EU Affairs of the Parliaments of the European Union) in Brussels will cover topics ranging from the review of the 2019-2024 European legislature and prospects for the Council's strategic agenda for 2024-2029 to gender policy and the representation of women and men in parliament, open strategic autonomy focusing on competitiveness and resilience, and discussions on democracy and the rule of law in Europe with a focus on the way forward. The event will start with a meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC in the evening of 24 March 2024. Following the Troika meeting, there will be a dinner reception.
On Monday, the official opening session will start at 9:30 am and include a welcoming address by Mr Karas. The plenary session will be chaired by Ms. Tillieux, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Co-Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs. The morning session will be devoted to procedural matters, including the approval of the draft programme, and the results of the COSAC Presidential Troika meeting.
The first substantive session, chaired by Mr. Van Goidsenhoven, Senator, and Co-Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs, will focus on the 2019-2024 European legislature and prospects for the Council's strategic agenda for 2024-2029. The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's integration into the EU of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, Ms Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, will be a keynote speaker during this session. The keynote speech will be followed by a debate.
Session II will focus on Gender policy and the representation of women and men in parliament. This session will be chaired by Ms. Tillieux. Keynote speakers will include Ms. Marie-Colline Leroy, Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Equality Opportunities, and Diversity, Ms. Latifa Gahouchi, Senator and Chair of the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for women and men, and Ms. Agnes Hubert, Founding Member of Gender5+ and Professor at the College of Europe. Following the keynote speeches, there will be an engaging debate on these crucial topics. At the end of Monday, the Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC, co-chaired by Ms. Tillieux and Mr. Van Goidsenhoven, will discuss the Draft Contribution and Conclusions of the LXXI COSAC.
Tuesday 26 March will start with Session III of the plenary meeting, focusing on "Open Strategic Autonomy: Competitiveness and Resilience," chaired by Mr. Van Goidsenhoven, Senator, and Co-Chair of the Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs. Mr. Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Mr. Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the internal market and Mr. Marek Hudon, Professor at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, ULB, will deliver the keynote speeches. Following the keynote speeches, there will be a debate on this critical topic. Valuable insights and fruitful discussions are anticipated during this session.
The last Session of the COSAC plenary meeting will be devoted to the topic of "Democracy and the Rule of Law in Europe: the way ahead," featuring a keynote speech by Mr. Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice. This will be followed by an interactive panel discussion with esteemed experts including Mr. Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Ms. Françoise Tulkens, Professor emeritus at UCL and former judge and Vice-President at the European Court of Human Rights, and Mr. Arnaud Van Waeyenberge, professor at HEC Paris and researcher at Center Perelman on the philosophy of Law.
During the closing session, co-chaired by Ms. Tillieux and Mr. Van Goidsenhoven, the LXXI COSAC will adopt its contributions and conclusions. This will be followed by poignant closing statements.
