The 25th COSAC took place in Brussels on 4-5 October 2001. At the Brussels COSAC, the Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstad, launched the idea that national parliaments by means of an “alarm bell” should be involved in monitoring the demarcations of EU competences.
However, the Brussels COSAC did not try to agree on any proposals for changes to the EU Treaties. Instead, COSAC favoured the idea of assembling a Convention to prepare the IGC, underlining that it should not be a discussion forum. Rather, it should present “a coherent draft proposal to the 2004 IGC contributing solutions to the problems it was confronted with”.
Following the 25th COSAC conference, a special meeting of the COSAC Chairpersons was convened on 1 December to inform national parliaments about the outcome of a tour of capitals, which had been conducted by Chairman of the Belgian Joint European Affairs committee, Mr Philippe Mahoux, and the Chairman of the Chamber of Representative’s Foreign affairs Committee, Mr Pierre Chevalier. The two Belgian parliamentarians had been asked by the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, to go on this mission with a view to providing input for the European Council’s important meeting in Laeken that would give the green light for the establishment of a Convention to prepare the 2004 IGC. The meeting of COSAC Chairpersons supported establishing a Convention.