The 26th COSAC in Madrid on 12-14 May 2002 was the first COSAC following the decision by Member States to involve national and European parliamentarians directly in the preparations of the 2004 IGC via a Convention. COSAC followed the proceedings of the Convention both closely and actively throughout the period, because many national parliamentarians participating in COSAC were at the same time also representatives of their parliaments in the Convention, which created a certain spill over effect between the two processes.
The conference in Madrid welcomed the decision taken by the Heads of States or Governments in Laeken to establish the Convention and agreed to monitor its progress step by step. It was decided to keep the question of the future of the EU on COSAC’s agenda for as long as the Convention would work and keep the Convention informed about any contributions from COSAC. It was finally agreed that a special meeting should be convened before the IGC started to adopt a contribution for the IGC.
At the same time, a window of opportunity was opened for another round of reforms of COSAC. The Presidential Troika was called upon to prepare a detailed proposal for a more effective COSAC, focusing its activities more on the role of national parliaments. It was agreed as a guiding principle that the reform process should focus on how to make COSAC function more effectively within the existing framework of the Amsterdam Protocol. All questions that would require a Treaty amendment were left for the Convention, because of the overlap between the debates that took place in COSAC and the Convention.