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LEXICON Meetings of the Presidents of Parliaments of the Regional Partnership

  1. On 18 December 2003, the Presidents of the Parliaments of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia decided to establish the parliamentary dimension of the Regional Partnership (RP) as a counterpart of previous meetings at ministerial level held from 2001. The second meeting of the Presidents of Parliaments in Prague in June 2004 was the first one with Polish participation. In November 2007 in Budapest, the Presidents of RP Parliaments agreed that their meetings would be held in autumn, on a rotational basis in one of the states, to discuss the most important European issues dealt with in the European Council and subjects of common interest in the region. In particular, it was also decided to discuss parliamentary responsibilities resulting from holding the Presidency of the EU Council. Presidents of other parliaments were invited to participate in the meetings on an ad hoc basis. The last Regional Partnership meeting was held in May 2011.
  2. Meetings of the Presidents of Parliaments of the Regional Partnership ended with the adoption of common positions by the participants (also referred to as common declarations or conclusions) which sum up the debate. The documents were adopted in English. They are available, together with translation into Polish, on the OIDE website.
  3. The Presidents of RP Parliaments had discussed issues including climate changes, common agricultural policy, the science and research sector, the role of national parliaments under the Treaty of Lisbon and the effects of coordinated subsidiarity checks in their parliaments (in period after 1 September 2006 until the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty). Common priorities of the Hungarian and Polish Presidencies of the EU were also one of the subject on the agenda. The Presidents devoted much attention to region specific issues, e.g. accession of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia to the Schengen Area, Eastern Dimension of European Neighbourhood Policy and development of infrastructure and tourism in the region.

Last updated 2011