Summary of debates No. 1, May 2011
In 2010 the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Romania (FES) assessed in a project the Romanian Parliament’s ability to engage in debates on European policies. The Final Report “Romania enters the EU Parliament. The legislative’s capacity to be an active European player”, launched in December 2010 assessed the institutional structures, procedures, internal resources of the Parliament, but also the relationship with government institutions and other institutions involved in the coordination of European affairs.
After the interest and recommendations from members of the Romanian Parliament and the European Affairs Department (DAE), CRPE and FES Romania have decided to continue this project, so that on April 12, 2011 to organize the first CRPE Forum with Infoeuropa’s support on European Affairs.
The agenda of the conference can be viewed here, and the preparatory document for the meeting “Coordination of European affairs at the national level-the current status and prospects” here (only in Romanian).
Organized after the Chatham House model, the debate was attended by representatives from the Government, Parliament and the Presidential Administration. The role of the discussions was to make (1) an assessment of the current situation in the coordination of EU affairs, (2) an analysis of institutional changes and procedures in Parliament (Parliamentary Committees separated from European Affairs) and (3) the status of the normative act which establishes the relationships between Parliament and Government in the coordination of European affairs.
The summary of the debates here (only in Romanian). Respecting the Chattam House rules, the document does not attribute any statement to the participants, thus keeping the anonymity of speakers.
This debate is the first event of its kind in the series “CRPE Forums on European affairs” to be organized by the CRPE in the near future.
The summary of these discussions and recommendations appear in the activities of the project “Strengthening the Romanian Parliament as an active European actor ” developed by the Romanian Center for European Policies (CRPE) and funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Romania (FES).