Paris, March 16th, 2012
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Presidents’ conclusions
for the 14th meeting of the Association of European Senates
On Friday, March 16th, 2012, the Presidents of the delegations of the High Chambers, members of the Association of European Senates, took part in the 14th meeting of the Association of European Senates.
Before beginning their work, they expressed their most heartfelt condolences to their colleague, Mr Danny Pieters, vice President of the Belgian Senate, for the tragic deaths of 28 people, including 22 children, in a coach accident.
They then discussed the following themes:
– Is there a supervisory role for Parliaments in the governance of the euro zone?
– What form of cooperation could help restart growth in Europe? What role can Parliaments play in helping find answers to the crisis?
The Presidents of delegations:
– declared their renewed support for organizing and uniting Europe and expressed their will to continue promoting Europe’s shared values, particularly democracy, rule of law, political pluralism, gender equality and the respect of diversity;
– reaffirmed the Association of European Senates’ role in developing inter-parliamentary cooperation and enhancing the value of bicamerism, as a way of deepening European democracy;
– thanked Mr Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, for participating in this meeting.
The Presidents of delegations:
– deemed that reinforcing the European Union’s economic and budgetary governance, in particular that of the euro zone, would help stability and growth in Europe at large;
– noted that this reinforced governance should ensure close participation and supervision of national and European Parliament, the respective rules of which are complementary and not in competition to each other; and that progress made via the Lisbon Treaty regarding Parliaments’ role in European construction should therefore be supported and complemented, for example, regarding the functioning of the “European semester”, since citizens lose confidence in democracy when it appears to them that European-level decisions are taken by only a few number of governments and technocrats;
– expressed the wish that efforts to put budgets back on healthy footing and a return to growth, should be carried out concomitantly.
The Presidents of delegations:
– noted that, in each country as much as in European organizations, only policies supervised and supported by Parliaments were fully legitimate and effective; reinforcing intergovernmental cooperation would not be sufficient for managing European countries’ growing interdependence;
– deemed that this interdependence should go hand in hand with strengthened interparliamentary cooperation so as to better allow the exchange of experiences and the convergence of policies favouring growth;
– highlighted the role of local and regional bodies in boosting business and protecting citizens against the consequences of economic hardships; on that point, they also mentioned the role often played by Second Chambers in establishing links between regional or local bodies, national institutions and European organizations.
The Presidents of delegations:
– decided to accept the proposal of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to meet in London in 2013;
– reminded that the Dutch Senate, on the occasion of its bicentenary, had offered to host the 2015 Association meeting.