|
|
16 July 1993
Doc. 6899
1403-13/7/93-1-E
REPORT
on the terms of reference of the
Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations
(Rapporteur: Mr COLOMBO,
Italy, Group of the European People's Party)
Summary
European construction has to have democratic foundations. For that reason the people and their elected representatives must be given a fuller part in it.
The Council of Europe must make a greater effort to involve national parliaments as extensively as possible in the accomplishment of its aims in the interests of closer unity between its member states.
The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations therefore needs to develop its relations with national parliaments in order to make the Council of Europe's work better known, promote closer co-operation between elected representatives and thus strengthen elected representatives' role both at national and European level.
The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations therefore needs terms of reference which reflect its new responsibilities.
I. Draft order
1. The Assembly wishes to step up interparliamentary co-operation, in particular by involving national parliaments more fully in its deliberations and by paying closer attention to the institutional problems of pluralist democracies, such as an imbalance between the constituent powers, a lack of confidence between citizens and their elected representatives and the democratic deficit in the process of European construction.
2. For that reason, the Assembly instructs its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations to develop its contacts with national parliaments with a view to helping them, by exchanging information and experience, carrying out comparative studies and organising meetings in various member states (see Order No. 452):
i. to promote greater facility in dealing with common difficulties encountered in the course of their mandates;
ii. to ensure that action is taken on the texts adopted by the Council of Europe;
iii. to encourage compliance with the provisions of the Council of Europe's Statute in the democratic functioning of the parliaments of Council of Europe member states;
iv. to widen and enrich mutual understanding among the elected representatives of European countries and, through them, among the peoples they represent;
v. to play their national role more effectively in the construction of Europe.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly furthermore invites the committee to develop its contacts with the international organisations within which national parliaments are represented in order to help establish a necessary degree of coherence among their activities in different European and international contexts.
4. In view of the considerable increase in the number of member states, the number of meetings in national parliaments, fixed at two per year, is no longer sufficient to enable the committee to implement its terms of reference. The Assembly accordingly decides to authorise the committee to hold up to three meetings per year.
5. The Assembly also instructs its Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations to continue intensifying relations with civil society and the mass media with a view to:
i. fostering greater awareness of the Council of Europe's work and of its role in European construction;
ii. consolidating its own work on participatory democracy and the promotion of civil society.
II. Explanatory memorandum
by Mr COLOMBO
Background
It was in 1956 that the Assembly decided to set up a working party for liaison with national parliaments, with the general task of maintaining close links between the Assembly and national parliaments. In 1961 the working party was given permanent status and in 1963 its terms of reference were extended to take in relations with the public, including the press. It acquired the status of a general committee in July 1968, when the system of Parliamentary Assembly committees was reorganised.
Introduction
The Assembly's intention in setting up the committee was to increase the impact of its proceedings in national parliaments and, through them, to influence the European policies of governments. At the same time, the national parliaments' responses to the committee's initiatives would provide the Parliamentary Assembly with the information it needed to focus and reinforce its action.
This prompted the drafting of a periodical activity report submitted by the committee to the Assembly, taking stock of the initiatives and results achieved. This exercise proved ineffective.
The committee has therefore endeavoured over the past few years to make its activities more relevant. Order No. 452 is the outcome of this process. It describes possible ways of expanding the committee's action.
However, some persistent misunderstandings as to how the order should be implemented give rise to objections of alleged conflict with other committees' terms of reference.
The resultant situation is liable to detract from the committee's essential purpose.
This is especially regrettable at the present time, when the construction of Europe is opening up significant prospects for the Assembly, the European Parliament is setting up its own liaison structures with national parliaments and the latter are becoming aware of the need for interparliamentary co-operation enabling them to improve their handling of European matters in pursuance of their national mandate.
A. Promoting knowledge of the Council of Europe's work and its implementation in national parliaments
a. Selection of adopted texts and follow up at national level
The Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations selects those of the texts adopted by the Assembly which are to be communicated to national parliaments. As a rule, it confines its selection to texts containing practical, tangible proposals lending themselves to implementation by the governments. It selects for further action two or three texts at each part session, though obviously this does not prevent Assembly members from taking action at national level on any other texts which are of special interest to them. It can also single out certain resolutions adopted by the Committee of Ministers on subjects which it considers suitable for subsequent action within national parliaments.
b. Meetings in national parliaments
The committee meets annually in two of the member states' parliaments at their invitation. The programme includes meetings arranged with representatives of national parliamentary committees and/or with relevant ministers for the purpose of discussing subjects of current concern to the host country in relation to the Council of Europe's work, reviewing conventions adopted by the Committee of Ministers but not signed by the government or not ratified by the host parliament, and talking to the media at press conferences.
The topics of current interest to the host parliament are chosen by mutual agreement between the parliament and the committee. The subjects may relate to the activities of various Parliamentary Assembly committees. However, this cannot entail any conflicts of competence for the following reasons:
—ei ther the committee gives prominence to work already carried out by the other committees under the intergovernmental work programme;—
—or , having regard to the host country's wishes and current concerns, the committee enlarges on certain aspects of the subjects covered by other committees while at the same time giving prominence to work already completed, and draws up an information report which will be made available to the committees concerned.Th
There is no previous or foreseeable case of reports on matters within the purview of other committees leading to resolutions or recommendations drafted by the committee.
To sum up, by reason of the type of meetings and contacts arranged under its terms of reference, the committee performs the role of an informant catering for the specific concerns of the Assembly committees and for the dissemination of knowledge about their work.
B. Furtherance of interparliamentary co-operation
Interparliamentary co-operation needs to be stepped up, at a time when representative democracy is suffering from:
—a growing imbalance between the executive and the legislature;—
—a crisis in relations between citizens and elected representatives;—
—a debasement of parliaments' role in European integration.Th
The acknowledgement of these difficulties has highlighted the need to further institutional activities which would satisfy the specific requirements of interparliamentary co-operation.
i. Meetings of national parliamentarians not belonging to the Assembly
Realisation of this state of affairs prompted the report (Doc. 6187) drawn up by the committee and submitted to the Assembly on 31 March 1990. It led to the adoption of Order No. 452 which instructs the committee to develop relations with national parliaments in the context of periodical exchanges of views, even recommending a yearly or two-yearly frequency (para. 5 of Order No. 452).
The organisation of these conferences at the seats of national parliaments helps to strengthen interparliamentary relations. It is up to the speaker of the host country's parliament and the President of the Parliamentary Assembly to issue invitations, in accordance with the procedure followed for the Brussels Conference (May 1992). The Parliamentary Assembly, which is responsible for preparing these conferences, acts as a catalyst.
According to the spirit of the order as defined in paragraph 29 of Document 6187, the aim is for these exchanges of views to involve members of parliament who are not members of the Parliamentary Assembly. A first conference of this kind bringing together speakers of parliaments and committee chairmen took place in Brussels on 26 and 27 May 1992. A second will be held at the Senate in Paris from 16 to 18 September 1993. These gatherings also help to make Council of Europe activities better known in national parliaments.
ii. Studies
The fulfilment of this institutional function entails not only periodical meetings, as stated in the foregoing paragraph, but also studies, some predating the adoption of Order No. 452 (for example, concerning the financing of political parties).
A study on the democratic functioning of parliaments is currently in preparation.
C. Co-operation with NGOs holding consultative status
The committee has been instructed to liaise between the Assembly and the representatives of all the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with consultative status. The other committees have working relations only with NGOs active in the fields covered by their terms of reference.
For this purpose it has set up the Joint Committee, composed of a delegation representing it and members of the Bureau of the NGO Liaison Committee:
—to consider ways of implementing co-operation between the NGOs and the Council of Europe, having regard to the rules on consultative status and to the Assembly resolution drawn up by our committee;—
—to conduct joint activities chiefly concerning the role of NGOs in European society. This type of activity backs up our committee's efforts to foster pluralistic, participatory democracy and develop its machinery (for example, Budapest Conference, May 1991).D.
D. Public relations
This part of the terms of reference concerns the promotion of Council of Europe activities. The committee's work in this field is subsumed by the activities described in the preceding sections. For instance, meetings in national parliaments and interparliamentary conferences afford broader opportunities for contacts with members of parliament and senators who are not Assembly members and for the organisation of encounters with young people. Press conferences are held afterwards to show how the subjects discussed are related to the Council of Europe's aims. Meetings with NGOs are also part of the public relations work.
Moreover, by inducing the Assembly to adopt Recommendation 1113 (1989)1 on the information policy of the Council of Europe and Order No. 450 (1989)2 on improving the impact of the activities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the committee has promoted reforms of the organisation's working methods, with a view to enhancing its image and improving its communication approach to the public and the media.
Reporting committee: Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: one annual supplementary committee meeting outside Paris or Strasbourg: three meetings instead of two meetings.
Reference to committee: Order No. 452 (1990).
Draft order unanimously adopted by the committee on 30 June 1993.
Members of the committee: MM. Colombo (Chairman), Roman, Särkijärvi (Vice-Chairmen), Akarcali, Amaral, Attard Montalto, Bobelis, Büchler, Colombier, Columberg, Diaz Aguilar, Dicks, Eversdijk, Fiorini, Gotzev, Mrs Grzeskowiak, Mrs Haglund, Mrs Hawlicek, MM. Hjortnaes, Hörcsik, Hughes, Mrs Jaani, MM. Kitt, Laakso, Laverge (Alternate: Seeuws), Lummer, Proriol (Alternate: Masseret), Pukl, Mrs Ragnarsdottir, MM. Regenwetter, Speroni, Taliadouros, Mrs Willoch.
N.B. The names of those members who took part in the vote are printed in italics.
Secretary of the committee: Mr Roberto La Porta.
1 1See Appendix I.
2 2See Appendix II.