September 27, 2008

National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski took part in the meeting of parliamentary heads from Central Europe, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Romania held in Prague on September 27, 2008. The topic of the meeting was devoted to the “new forms of cooperation between national parliaments in the European Union”.
The forum was opened by the Head of the Czech Senate Premysl Sobotka in the plenary hall of the Senate. The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Mirek Topolanek welcomed the participants.

The heads of parliaments discussed in Prague the outlooks for further integration in Europe, the Treaty of Lisbon’s future emphacising on the inter parliamentary cooperation of the member countries at the eve of the Czesh Republic taking over the presidency of the EU.

In his statement for the Bulgarian media in Prague, Georgi Pirinski stressed that at present, national parliaments are facing new responsibilities under the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, namely to decide which of the Directives and Regulations should be adopted at the level of the whole EU, i.e. by the European Council and the Summit of Ministers and which should be regulated by individual member states alone.

This, he noted, is a new and very essential task, because we have to decide how much we shall legislate ourselves, taking into consideration our national interests and legislation and when we have to subdue our preferences to the common interest. Georgi Pirinski underlined that the new responsibilities of the national parliaments require a very good exchange of information and communication between the parliaments of the member countries.