Report on Parliamentary Cooperation

At its inaugural meeting in Geneva on 18-19 October 1999, the Working Table on Democratisation and Human Rights endorsed the Chairman's proposal to invite the Royaumont Process to consult with interested parties and develop an action plan to advance parliamentary co-operation and exchange of expertise among democratically oriented parliamentarians.

In response, the European Union's Special Representative for the Royaumont Process, Dr. Panagiotis Roumeliotis, organised a working meeting in Brussels on 16 December 1999, inviting all Stability Pact partners interested in parliamentary co-operation. Partners were invited in particular to review an action plan developed by the International Institute for Democracy (IID) on behalf of the Royaumont Process and to provide comments or other suggestions for the enhancement of the parliamentary dimension of the Stability Pact.

At the working meeting, most delegations who took the floor, expressed their broad agreement with the action plan. Some of them submitted their own complementary ideas or proposals. Dr. Roumeliotis invited all interested partners to submit proposals in writing to the Royaumont office by 15 January 2000. A report on the meeting by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of the European Union is attached herewith.

On the basis of comments received, the IID produced a new comprehensive version of its earlier action plan. The new action plan is attached. Special care was taken to include Montenegro in the envisaged projects following a request by Montenegrin representatives at the meeting of 16 December.

The revised action plan covers a period of 24 months, consisting of training and exchange programmes for newly elected parliamentarians, parliamentary staff, conferences for young parliamentarians, a newsletter and electronic discussion forum, aimed at sustaining the network. Most activities have a multilateral and cross-border character and are planned to take place in countries of the South Eastern European region.

The Royaumont Process parliamentary action plan will involve various partners with a proven, longstanding experience in parliamentary development programmes, such as:

1. the national parliaments of the EU member states;
2. the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly, and the OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the parliamentary assemblies of the Central European Initiative and the Black Sea Economic Co-operation;

3. specialised NGOs such as the IID, the East-West Parliamentary Practice Project and GLOBE

A detailed draft budget proposal is attached.

It is to be noted that the IID will soon launch a six-month pilot phase for the action plan, mostly financed by the European Union in the context of the Royaumont Process. The pilot phase will no doubt provide a useful preview of future activities and enable the organisers to perform some fine-tuning operations if needed.