Athens, 14 June 2022

Participation of Hellenic Parliament delegation in final Meeting of COSAC Working Group

Proceedings of the COSAC Working Group on “the place of European values at the heart of the sense of belonging in the EU”, set up under the French Presidency of the EU Council have been completed. MPs Olga Kefalogianni and Giannis Bournous have been representing the Hellenic Parliament via teleconference- in Working Group sessions and regular meetings throughout the period from February 8 to June 14.

Working Group meetings elaborated upon topics related to values, democracy and the rule of law, the harmonisation of national legislation with European standards, monitoring mechanisms regarding respect for values and the rule of law, in close association with the two-fold need to maintain citizens' sense of belonging to a corpus of values and respect for national constitutional traditions. The purpose of these discussions was to exchange views, promote mutual understanding despite different approaches, as well as to draft a final text of conclusions, proposals and recommendations that would capture the overall discussions’ outcome and promote their implementation. The final text was adopted at the end of the final sitting, including proposed amendments and relevant objections.

Mr Bournous, congratulated the French Presidency on its initiative of setting up the Working Group, which advanced and renewed the interest in COSAC and contributed significantly to the deepening and better understanding of the issues concerning the rule of law; he also expressed his consent to and agreement with the final text of conclusions. Regarding the prospect of continuing this initiative, he noted that although the contribution of academics to the meetings was significant, more time and space should be given to parliamentarians for fruitful political dialogue on practical political issues arising from conflicting approaches on European values between member states.

 

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