Main topic of the Meeting of Secretaries General, which is held in Cyprus this year, the country presiding over the European Union in the second half of 2012, was the progress regarding the work on implementation of conclusions of the previous Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, held in Warsaw last year, as well as “Implication of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union of Parliaments of the EU countries”. The goal of this Treaty is enabling the stability of the Euro zone and strengthening of economic management in the Union, while the Article 13 of the Treaty emphases that the cooperation among the parliaments of EU countries and the European Parliament should have an important role in the process of economic cooperation and management in the Union, while the model of achieving this role of the parliament itself should be agreed by the end of the current year.

In that regard, the Meeting of Secretaries General held today represents the preparation for the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments, scheduled for 22nd and 23rd April of this year, also in Nicosia. The agenda for the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments, presented today, will also include session on “The role of parliaments of EU countries in strengthening democracy and human rights, especially in Mediterranean area”, as well as the session on “Social cohesion in times of austerity – what the national parliaments could do”. During the Meeting, the need of the presiding country to prepare adequate materials and more comprehensive proposal was stressed, after which the attitudes of the Conference participants were heard, in order to create conditions to reach necessary decisions acceptable for all EU members  at  the Conference of Speakers of Parliaments.

The Conference of Speakers of parliaments, consisting of Speakers of national parliaments of the EU member states, Speakers of the candidate countries to the EU membership and the Speaker of the European Parliament, aims at promoting the role of parliaments and overseeing the coordination of interparliamentary activities. The Conference represents forum for exchange of opinions, information and experience among speakers of parliaments, on topics regarding the role and organization of parliamentary functions, promotion of research activities and joint acting.

Today, secretaries general also considered and adopted the annual report on the work of Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange (IPEX), as a fundamental platform for interparliamentary exchange of information related to the European Union. Commitment of secretaries General regarding the further development of the IPEX as reliable means of exchange of information and documents related to the EU was reiterated.

The Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegro had a number of bilateral meetings with colleagues from the EU parliamentary countries, and on that occasion he introduced his interlocutors with the progress achieved by the Parliament of Montenegro in the previous period, while the opinions on possibilities for improving bilateral cooperation aimed at exchange of best practices were exchanged.