On 1 and 2 June, the plenary meeting of the LIII COSAC (Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union) will gather in Riga nearly 300 European parliamentarians, including members of the European Parliament, as well as high public officials and experts on European affairs. This will be one of the six events hosted by the Saeima within the framework of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The meeting will be opened by Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, and Lolita Čigāne, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the Saeima.

At the first session, after the address by Laimdota Straujuma, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, European parliamentarians will discuss the state of play of the Latvian Presidency.

The second session will focus on the European energy policy, its state of play, challenges and opportunities. The speakers at this session will include Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union; Jerzy Buzek, Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament; and Petr Hlobil, Chair of Green 10.

During the lunch session, parliamentarians will consider ways to deal with security concerns in the Middle East and North Africa. This session will be moderated by Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, and the speakers will be Averof Neofytou, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs of the House of Representatives of Cyprus, and Mansouria Mokhefi, Special Advisor for the Middle East and Maghreb at the French Institute for Foreign Affairs IFRI.
The lunch session will be followed by the third session of the meeting devoted to EU trade policy for the next five years with a focus on the EU-U.S. TTIP negotiations. At this session, participants will be addressed by Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade, and Artis Pabriks, Member of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament.

The second day of the meeting will begin with an informal morning session on the EU Passenger Name Record proposal. This session will be addressed by Pablo Casado, Member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain, and Axel Voss, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament.

Proceedings of the second day will continue with the fourth session devoted to the future of parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs and the participants will spilt into three working groups. The first group will discuss involvement of national parliaments in EU decision making and hear addresses by Herman De Croo, Member of the Flemish Parliament, and Gunther Krichbaum, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the German Bundestag. The second group will focus on the green card as a tool to enhance political dialogue; among the speakers there will be Dominic Hannigan, Chairman of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs of the Irish Parliament, and Paolo Tancredi, Vice-Chairman of the European Affairs Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The European Commission’s multiannual work programme and the role of national parliaments will be considered by the third group with reports given by Maria João Rodrigues, Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament, and Danielle Auroi, Chairperson of the European Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly.

Within the framework of the LIII COSAC there will also be a press conference on the highlights of the EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations.

The traditional family photo of participants will be taken on the first day of the meeting at 12:45.

A live stream of the meeting will be available on the website of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Latvian Presidency at http://parleu2015.lv/en. For the programme of the meeting, please visit http://parleu2015.lv/files/cosac_plenary/en-draft-programme_cosac-plen-4.pdf.

The plenary meeting will be held at the Ķīpsala International Exhibition Centre, Ķīpsalas iela 8. On 1 June it is scheduled to start at 9:00 and on 2 June – at 8:30.

Att. Media representatives:
Information on accreditation for events organised by the Saeima in the framework of the Latvian Presidency is available at: http://parleu2015.lv/en/media-1


Saeima Press Service