Address of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Professor Ognian Gerdjikov at the Conference of the Presidents of the Parliaments of the EU Applicant Countries, organised by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Portugal
Lisbon, April 26th, 2003

Mr. President,

I would like to thank you for inviting me to take part in this interesting forum which you organised to commemorate two notable events – the first related to the history of Portugal, the second - to the European Union.

Yesterday we took part in the commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the Portuguese Revolution of 1974, which opened the road of Portugal to democracy, a road that culminated in the accession to the European Union.

Last week in Athens we witnessed a historic event in EU development. The Accession Treaty was signed under which ten new countries will become members of the European Union. We extend our cordial congratulations to the peoples of these ten countries on their success yielded as a result of years of assiduous efforts for meeting the high EU standards. At same time we are pleased to point out that the presence of the representatives of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey in Athens symbolises the fact that the enlargement process is still under way and that the European Union still stands by the opportunity offered to Bulgaria and Romania to become EU members in 2007. Your invitation, Mr. President, extended to us to take part in this conference, also confirms this EU commitment and we are grateful for that. As far as Bulgaria is concerned I would like to point out that the progress of the accession negotiations so far has lead us to believe that they will be successfully completed in 2004 which would make it possible for us to accomplish the Copenhagen aim of becoming full-fledged members in 2007.

Mr. President, Colleagues,
Our forum is devoted to a very significant topic for the future of the European Union.

I know this topic is not new. But now, after the Nice Treaty, the strengthening of the role of the national parliaments in the European institutional architecture has become one of the key issues, which the Convention on the future of Europe is tackling and which will also be on the agenda of the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

This theme is especially topical for us, parliamentarians. It has also attracted the attention of the Bulgarian Members of Parliament who discussed it at a meeting of the Standing Committee on EU Accession at the National Assembly and at conferences and round tables on the future of Europe organised by the Committee. The Bulgarian members of the Convention have also expressed their opinion on the issue. I would like to share with you our views on the topic under discussion.

We firmly support the enhancing of the role of the national parliaments in the future architecture of the European Union, which will contribute to the democratic legitimacy of the Union, and its closeness to is citizens. We believe that the future Constitution should acknowledge the significance of the active involvement of the national parliaments in the activities of the European Union. Apart from some provisions in the Preamble and in the body of the treaty, it would be pertinent to implement the ideas suggested by the Presidium of the Convention about the appending of protocols to the Constitution as regards subsidiarity and the role of the national parliaments. These Protocols could include the most important proposals of the respective working groups of the Convention. We stand behind most of these proposals.

The creation of the mechanism of early notification is especially important in our opinion because it will allow member states to exercise political control over the observance of the subsidiarity principle from the earliest state of the legislative process. The European Commission will send directly to the national parliaments all drafts of bills, consultative documents and its annual legislative programme at the same time when it sends those to the European Parliament and the national governments.

We support an ever-closer cooperation between the European Parliament and the national parliaments and would like to see it institutionalized legally in the Protocol about the role o the national parliaments. We hold that the main forum of this cooperation should be COSAC, whose reform should turn it into a more effective instrument for exchanging opinions and experience as well as monitoring of the application of the subsidiarity principle

It is necessary to provide for a strengthened involvement of the national parliaments in the developing of the main guidelines in EU policy. To that end we find it expedient to adopt the method of the Convention in the future amendments to the Constitution as well as to hold conferences with the participation of the European Parliament and the national parliaments.

We believe that as regards the role of the national parliaments in the future institutional structuring of the EU, the Convention will come up with useful proposals which will facilitate the work of the Intergovernmental Conference.

In conclusion, Mr. President, I would like to thank you for the excellent organisation of the conference and the warm welcome to Lisbon.