The meeting was chaired by Lolita Cigane, Chairperson of the Latvian Saeima’s European Affairs Committee. The topics of the meeting were the state of play of the Latvian presidency and some of its priorities - European Union and European Trade Policy, with a focus on the talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The second day of the meeting revolved around the role of national parliaments in the decision-making procedures at the level of the European Union.

The meeting was opened by Inara Murniece, Speaker of the Latvian Saeima, who said that parliamentary debate is a key mechanism for finding solutions to the challenges ahead, such as the economic situation, energy independence and security problems in the European neighbourhood.

European Integration Committee Chairman Aleksandar Senic informed the participants that, as part of Serbia’s chairmanship of the Conference of the European Integration/Affairs Committees of States Participating in the Stabilisation and Association Process of the South-East Europe, Belgrade hosted a meeting attended by delegations of six parliaments in the region and guests from two EU member states. He pointed out this was the first time that representatives of the Pristina Parliament took part in an official meeting in Belgrade, which testifies to parliamentarians’ efforts to contribute to the normalisation of relations in the region. The Committee Chairman also informed the participants that after a year and a half the Republic of Serbia has completed the screening process and is ready to open the negotiations chapters. Finally, he said he hoped the colleagues present would support Serbia’s opening the negotiations chapters in their respective parliaments.

At the end of the COSAC meeting, the parliamentarians adopted several conclusions, among them, conclusions applauding the initiative to set up an Energy Union, asking Luxembourg, as the next chair to set up a working group to define the “green card” mechanism and improve the “yellow card” system, commending the ongoing trade talks with the US and stressing that the EU upholds high standards as regards food and health, consumer protection and in other areas, and calls for overall and constant humanitarian rescue missions, such as “Mare Nostrum”, on the open seas, which the member states would contribute to. At the end of the meeting, the participants also adopted a COSAC Statement on the recent entry bans imposed by the Russian Federation.

The Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) comprises the representatives of national parliaments of EU member states, candidate states, European Parliament, Council, Commission, and special guests. The delegation of the European Integration Committee comprised Committee Chairman Aleksandar Senic, Committee Deputy Chairman Laszlo Varga and Committee member Dusica Stojkovic.