Doc. 9241

27 September 2001

A joint committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mr van der Linden and several of his colleagues

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

      The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:

a.       considering that, in part, the European Union and the Council of Europe have political responsibilities and take initiatives in the same European countries concerning the same political issues;

b.       noting that this could result in overlapping and wasted effort, time and financial resources through lack of communication and co-ordination;

c.       bearing in mind that a number of states which are candidates for European Union membership are already members of the Council of Europe;

d.       referring to the monitoring procedure and the activities of the monitoring committee set up for that purpose by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, and the valuable information this procedure could provide to the European Parliament as well as to the European Commission and the Council of Ministers of the European Union;

e.       noting the clear desire of both institutions to co-ordinate their activities and work more closely together;

f.       realising that this communication and co-ordination can only be achieved if, as one means of co-operation, members of both the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament meet regularly and therefore create a specific parliamentary body where members of both parliamentary institutions can meet and discuss and co-operate on matters directly;

g.       referring to a similar request from members of the European Parliament,

      Concludes by proposing to colleagues in the European Parliament the setting up of a joint committee of both assemblies that will discuss initiatives, exchange information and promote co-ordination to avoid overlapping and wasting effort, time and other resources as far as possible, and to take joint initiatives in a number of European countries.

Signed¹:

van der Linden, Netherlands, EPP/CD

Adamczyk, Poland, EPP/CD

Anusz, Poland, EPP/CD

Čekuolis, Lithuania, LDR

Eörsi, Hungary, LDR

Gaburro, Italy, NR

Kosakivsky, Ukraine, NR

Krzaklewski, Poland, EPP/CD

Krzyzanowska, Poland, EPP/CD

Roseta, Portugal, EPP/CD

Smereczynska, Poland, EPP/CD

Smorawinski, Poland, EPP/CD

van den Brande, Belgium, EPP/CD

von der Esch, Sweden, EPP/CD

Wojcik, Poland, EPP/CD

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group