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Zagreb - During the two-day seminar on best practices in the national and the European parliaments on subsidiarity and scrutiny procedures over the EU legislation and policies, Members of the Sabor as well as parliamentary staff had the opportunity to exchange views and learn on best practices concerning the national parliaments' role in the EU matters.
The seminar was opened by the Speaker of the Sabor Mr Josip Leko who welcomed this joint activity of the national parliaments of the Member States and the European Parliament to share their expertise and experience. It proved to be very helpful for the Sabor's preparations for its new task within the EU's constitutional framework.
The two Co-Chairs of the Seminar Mr Peđa Grbin, Chairman of the Committee on Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System and Ms Zita Gurmai, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament, concluded that emphasis needs to be put on networking, exchange of best practices and communicating EU matters to the wider public. This should contribute facilitating Croatia's role as a new Member State as of 1st July 2013. Despite the current financial crisis, Ms Gurmai and Mr Grbin concluded the accession of Croatia will be beneficial both for the European Union and Croatia.
The seminar was attended by Members of the Croatian Parliament, parliamentary staff, government officials, think tanks, academia and media.
Joint statement of Ms Zita Gurmai (S&D, HU) Vice-Chair of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament and Mr Peđa Grbin, Chair of the Committee on Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System of the Sabor on the occasion of the workshop on "Scrutiny procedures of EU legislation and policies in the national Parliaments" organised by the European Parliament (DG EXPO) in the Croatian Parliament on 28-29 January:
"In the last crucial stage of the ratification process of Croatia’s accession to the EU, European and national parliamentarians worked together during two days in order to contribute to the best possible preparation of the Sabor to its new tasks within the Union’s constitutional framework. By sharing best practices for the scrutiny of EU legislation and policies, including the respect of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, parliamentarians and experts helped to identify the elements of an efficient structure that has proved its worth in other member states. This common experience demonstrated again that member states are weak alone but can be strong together, when united in diversity. Despite the financial crisis, we remain convinced that the accession of Croatia is an added value both for Croatia and the European family."