Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič attends first meeting of College of Commissioners and Parliament Committee chairs
Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission Vice-President for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration, today attended the first ever meeting between the members of the European Commission and the chairs of the committees of the European Parliament.
This meeting will now take place annually as part of the new procedure by which the Commission adopts its Work Programme.
It is part of a new procedure which stems from the Framework Agreement governing the relations between two institutions, which Vice-President Šefčovič negotiated on behalf of the Commission.
"It's good to see the improvements introduced by the Framework Agreement already bearing fruit," said Vice-President Šefčovič. "Today's meeting was living proof that the Commission and Parliament are working more closely together than ever. Under the new Agreement, this cooperation will go from strength to strength."
The aim of today's meeting was to give Parliament's input to the Commission's Work Programme for 2011.
The Conference of Committee Chairs of Parliament summarized all remarks, requests and priorities of the parliamentary committees and these were discussed with the College of Commissioners.
The discussions took place in several clusters dealing with the various policy areas.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, cooperation between the Parliament and the Commission is becoming more active and regular then ever.
Accordingly, the President of the Commission now delivers a State of the Union speech in Parliament in September outlining the priorities of the coming year, and also provides the main elements of the next Work Programme to Parliament in writing.
Meanwhile, the priorities of the committees are gathered in Parliament, and the committees may meet with the respective Commissioners to discuss these.
These meetings are rounded up by a meeting between the Conference of Committee Chairs and the College of Commissioners before the Commission adopts its Work Programme in October.
Parliament's Conference of Committee Chairs consists of the chairs of all the 24 standing and special committees. It is chaired by Klaus-Heiner Lehne (EPP, DE).
The joint meeting took place on 7th October at 13:00 to 15:00 in the Commission's Berlaymont building.
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