Paris, 2 December 2009 – The Assembly unanimously agreed on Wednesday that it needs to raise its profile among national parliaments and governments and that it is vital for the European Union (EU) to maintain democratic scrutiny of security and defence by national parliaments.

The report entitled “Models and structures of interparliamentary cooperation” (Document 2055) submitted on behalf of the Committee for Parliamentary and Public Relations by Mr Hendrik Daems (Belgium, Liberal Group) calls for parliaments to appoint delegates to the Assembly who specialise in defence and foreign affairs, for delegates to promote the Assembly’s work to national parliaments “so that their knowledge can usefully be shared with their colleagues in the same field”, and for national parliaments to “define the resources needed to comply with international political commitments”. The Assembly is “convinced that it is essential for work done in interparliamentary bodies to have greater visibility” and is “determined to spare no effort to ensure that its own work has greater impact within national parliaments”.

At interparliamentary level there is a growing need for formal contact that has led to the creation of different types of organisation, conceived as bridging structures between national parliaments, which vary according to their history, circumstances and political objectives.

In light of this trend, the time is ripe for a comparative study and for putting forward proposals for the future: the report submitted by the Committee for Parliamentary and Public Relations looks at the different forms and models of existing interparliamentary bodies and attempts to draw up a list of procedures and best practices.

For defence and security in particular, the Assembly warned against “the lack of accountability that would result from governments acting together, unchecked by an interparliamentary authority with a popular mandate”. Mr Daems said he would present the report’s conclusions to his national parliament immediately and urged all other members of the Assembly to do the same.