The 31st COSAC in Dublin on 19-20 May 2004 was the first meeting after the reform of the Rules of Procedure. The agenda gave national parliaments a platform to exchange of information and best practises on procedures for national scrutiny of European affairs.
An exchange of information between national parliaments took place - in accordance with Rule 7.1 of the Rules of Procedure - on recent development in the Member States on aspects of parliamentary scrutiny. In particular, the conference heard reports about the scrutiny systems of the national parliaments of the ten new Member States.
Another agenda point also focused on the role of national parliaments in the EU. The Constitutional Treaty, which had not yet been signed, meant that this issue remained at the centre of discussions. Delegations engaged in an intensive debate on how national parliaments could implement the “subsidiarity early warning mechanism” and how they might organise their individual subsidiarity checks. The debate was facilitated by the first “biannual report on EU procedures and practises” from the COSAC secretariat, which reported on the new “subsidiarity mechanism”.
The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, addressed COSAC reporting on the progress in the IGC. COSAC called on “all parties to conclude the IGC by the European Council in June”.