Meeting of the chairpersons of the Conference of the Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC)

Sofia - Bojan Glavašević, deputy chairperson of the European Affairs Committee, and Marijana Balić, Committee member, participated in the meeting.

The meeting started with a presentation of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council, which was followed by discussions on the future of the European Union and the European macro-regional strategies. The Bulgarian Presidency is focused on youth policies, enhancing stability and security, digital economy and the European perspective of the Western Balkans countries. Most of the participants particularly welcomed the fact that enlargement features again among the European Union’s policy priorities.

In the course of the discussion on the future of Europe, the European Commission's Vice President Frans Timmermans underlined that convergence had always been in the focus of European integration and advocated for stronger European solidarity. The last debate of the meeting centred on macro-regional strategies as flagship European projects in terms of promoting convergence and solidarity. Since both the EU Member States and their neighbouring countries take part in macro-regional strategies, these strategies contribute to the spreading of European values.

The meeting was closed by announcing the next plenary meeting of COSAC, scheduled to take place from 17 to 19 June, in Sofia again. The meeting will be dedicated, among other things, to the European Charter of Social Rights, cohesion policy and inter-parliamentary cooperation in the context of discussing the application of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles.

Author: European Affairs Committee