MALTESE PALIAMENTARY DELEGATION TO ATTEND THE 23RD COSAC MEETING

A Parliamentary delegation led by the Hon Dolores Cristina MP, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, and including the Hon John Vella, MP, and the Hon George Vella, MP, also members of the Foreign Affairs Committee, will be attending the XXIIIrd COSAC meeting.

This meeting of European Affairs Committees of the National Parliaments of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Parliaments of Applicant States will be held in Versailles, France, between the 15th and 18th October. Prime Minister Lionel Jospin will open the debate on the French Presidency, the IGC, European social agenda and the charter of fundamental rights.

Other topics on the agenda are:

Implementation of the area of freedom, security and justice;

Parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs in the member states, and in the applicant countries; and

Enlargement of the European Union.

COSAC was set up following an agreement reached in 1989 between Presidents of the Parliaments of the Member States of the European Communites on the need to strengthen the role of national parliaments in the Community process through the co-operation of the committees in charge of European affairs within their parliaments.

Following the COSAC meeting, Hon Dolores Cristina, as Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, will be proceeding to Bonn where the Centre for European Studies will be holding the Second Parliaments' Forum on EU Accession.

Among the topics on the Forum's agenda are:

The state of the enlargement process since Helsinki; and

Regional policies - European perspectives and challenges for the accession countries.