A strong, proactive and ambitious EU foreign policy is vital

Elmar Brok. Chairman of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee

"Bringing peace, stability and prosperity to the broader EU neighbourhood must be the first and utmost priority of this policy” – believes the chairman of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee Elmar Brok. Situation in Ukraine, Iraq and Middle East will be in focus of members next week.

(Updated 30/03/2016)

The European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) was established in 1993 and has been strengthened by subsequent treaties since, most recently by the Lisbon Treaty. Since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force in 2009, the role of the European Parliament in matters related to the CFSP has also intensified. Today, the Parliament scrutinises the CFSP and contributes to the policy’s evolution, particularly by supporting the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU Special Representatives (EUSRs) and the EU’s foreign delegations. The Parliament’s budgetary powers shape the scale and scope of the CFSP, as well as the EU financial instruments that sustain the EU’s foreign activities. Through its committees and delegations, the Parliament maintains close relations with the other EU institutions, EU Member States (and notably national parliaments), partner countries, global governance structures and non-governmental actors. The Parliament has helped to make the CSFP more coherent and transparent, and to raise the level of public awareness of the policy.

Delegations

EP delegations maintain and develop Parliament's international contacts. Delegation activities, on the one hand, are aimed at maintaining and enhancing contacts with parliaments of States that are traditionally partners of the European Union and, on the other hand, contribute to promoting in third countries the values on which the European Union is founded, namely the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

Parliament's international contacts are governed by the principles of public international law and are aimed at fostering, wherever possible and appropriate, the parliamentary dimension of international relations.

Parliamentary Action on Sustainable Development Goals

« a lot needs to be done to empower parliaments to step up to this SDGs’ implementation challenge. Many parliaments lack the resources or the legal authority to carry out their constitutional functions and to maintain their independence from the executive branch. The pressure of the short-term electoral cycle makes it difficult for parliamentarians to maintain the long-term perspective that is required to carry forward the SDGs. (…) Parliaments are often excluded from key processes such as the design and monitoring of national sustainable development plans. Lastly, most parliaments lack an appropriate institutional structure to mainstream such a comprehensive framework in their work, ensuring policy coherence and linking the various goals in an integrated manner »

The EP has also a Committee on Development which is responsible, among several affairs, for the promotion, implementation and monitoring of the development and cooperation policy of the Union, all legislation, programming and scrutiny of actions carried out under the Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), the European Development Fund (EDF) – in close cooperation with national parliaments – and the Humanitarian Aid Instrument, as well as all matters related to humanitarian aid in developing countries and the policy underpinning them.

As well it's responsible for matters relating to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and relations with the relevant bodies, matters relating to Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and Parliament’s involvement in election observation missions, when appropriate in cooperation with other relevant committees and delegations.

The committee coordinates the work of the interparliamentary delegations and ad hoc delegations falling within its remit.

According to UNDP capable and vibrant parliaments are essential to countries’ development processes because they are important institutions in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and economic development aims. Parliamentary development directly supports the achievement of the MDGs because MPs represent the very constituents who are supposed to benefit from them while at the same time being responsible for passing the laws that institutionalize the changes required to meet the MDGs.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) should represent, understand and reflect the interests of all their constituents and communities so that development is more equitable and effective. Indeed an active Parliament’s role in poverty-reduction planning fosters a more comprehensive societal participation in economic development.

International Relations Democracy Gap

There is a democracy gap in international relations that may be filled by involving parliaments in global and regional affairs in a more effective way.

At the global level, the European Parliament works with intergovernmental organisations or negotiating fora in which the EU reaches agreements that must be implemented at home. At the Union's level, the Parliament has to adapt to the new circumstances resulting from the transfer of some of the Member State's sovereignty to a transnational entity, which is not the case at the global level.