EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATIONS AND PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY (PARLOMACY)

There are several types of Delegations:

Joint Parliamentary Committees: Joint parliamentary committees are set up with the parliaments of States that have Association Agreements (AA) with the European Union or of States with which accession negotiations have been initiated. At their meetings, the members of the two delegations (the EP delegation and the third-country parliament delegation) keep each other informed of their respective priorities and the implementation of Association Agreements. Joint parliamentary committees may make recommendations both to the parliament of the candidate country and to the European Parliament. They monitor candidate countries' progress towards accession to the EU. The powers of the joint parliamentary committees are defined by Parliament and by the agreements with third countries. The procedures by which these committees operate are governed by the agreements in question. They are based on the principle of parity between the delegation of the European Parliament and the delegation of the parliament involved.

Parliamentary Cooperation Committees: Parliamentary cooperation committees are set up pursuant to a cooperation agreement between the European Union (EU) and the third country concerned. Parliamentary cooperation committees collaborate with the States involved in the European Neighbourhood Policy and States which have signed a strategic partnership agreement with the EU. The number of members varies from one committee to the next. But they all consist of an equal number of members from the EP and from the country concerned.

Other Interparliamentary Delegations: Other Interparliamentary Delegations are delegations which maintain and promote relations with the parliaments of countries outside the European Union and countries which are not candidate countries. They carry out their activities in cooperation with the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development and the Committee on International Trade. On a proposal from the Conference of Presidents, Parliament decides how many members each delegation should have. Delegation members are elected for the duration of the parliamentary term. The Committee on Foreign Affairs coordinates the work of joint parliamentary cooperation committees as well as that of the interparliamentary delegations, ad hoc delegations and election observation missions falling within its remit.

Delegations to Multilateral Parliamentary Assemblies: There are four joint parliamentary Assemblies (the African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU); the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM); the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat); the Euronext Parliamentary Assembly)

African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU): This international assembly, on which the representatives of the various countries sit together is intended to create a parliamentary forum for cooperation between the EU and the ACP. This partnership is based on the Cotonou Agreement (ACP-EU partnership agreement). The assembly has the following aims: to establish close cooperation between the ACP countries and the EU; to improve the standard of living and level of economic development in the ACP countries; to promote human rights and democracy.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Medterranean: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean consists of 120 members representing the European countries and an equal number from the 10 Mediterranean partner countries. the assembly considers political, economic and cultural matters of common interest and discusses ways of strengthening the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. It has a consultative role on all subjects relating to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.

Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat): The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly consists of 120 members. As the parliamentary institution of the strategic bi-regional partnership between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, the EuroLat Assembly is a forum for debate and parliamentary control and monitoring dealing with three makor fields of action: questions relating to democracy, external policy, good governance, integration, peace and human rights; economic, financial and commercial affairs; social affairs, human exchanges, the environment, education and culture. The principle of parity applies to the rules and procedures of the assembly.

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly: The European Parliament's delegation to the Euronst Parliamentary Assembly was constituted at the heart of the seventh parliamentary term (end September 2009). The Assembly is the parliamentary institution of the Eastern Partnership, the policy launched by the European Union to bring its Eastern neighbours closer and to support their efforts for political, economic and social reform. This involves new Association Agreements, the creation of free trade areas and the provision of financial resources. Euronest consists of 60 Members of the European Parliament and 10 members from the national parliaments of each of the Eastern partner countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. For political reasons, the participation of Belarus has been temporarily suspended. Euronest is an institution for multilateral parliamentary diaogue in many areas of common interest: stability, democracy, approximation of law and standards, trade, energy, contacts between peoples, etc...

Geographic Breakdown of Delegations (EP March 2014)

(a) Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey

• Delegation to the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee
• Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee
• Delegation for Relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee
• Delegation to the EU-Serbia SAPC
• Delegation to the EU-Albania SAPC
• Delegation to the EU-Montenegro SAPC
• Delegation for Relations with Bosnia Herzegovina, and Kosovo

(b) Russia and the Eastern Partnership States

• Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
• Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
• Delegation to the EU-Moldova Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
• Delegation for Relations with Belarus
• Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committes.

(c) Maghreb, Mashreq, Israel and Palestine

• Delegation for Relations with Israel
• Delegation for Relationw with the Palestinian Legislative Council
• Delegation for Relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union
• Delegation for Relations with the Mashreq countries

(d) The Arab Peninsula, Iraq and Iran

• Delegation for Relations with the Arab Peninsula
• Delegation for Relations with Iraq
• Delegation for Relations with Iran

(e) The Americas

• Delegation for Relations with the United States of America
• Delegation for Relations with Canada
• Delegation for Relations with the Federative Republic of Brazil
• Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central America
• Delegation for Relations with the countries of the Andean Community
• Delegation for Relations with Mercosur
• Delegation to the EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee
• Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee
• Delegation to the Cariforum-EU Parliamentary Committee

(f) Asia/Pacific

• Delegation for Relations with Japan
• Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China
• Delegation for Relations with India
• Delegation for Relations with Afghanistan
• Delegation for Relations with the countries of South Asia
• Delegation for Relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
• Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula
• Delegation for Relations with Australia and New Zealand
• Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan Parliamentray Cooperation Committees , and for Relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

(g) Africa

• Delegation for Relations with South Africa
• Delegation for Relations with the Pan-African Parliament

(h) Multilateral Assemblies

• Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
• Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean
• Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly
• Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly
• Delegation for Relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

In March 2014, the EP decided the following:

1. Membership of parliamentary committees created on the basis of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) shall be drawn exclusively from the Committee on International Trade and the Committee on Development- ensuring the maintenance of the leading role of the Committee on International Trade as the committee responsible and that they should actively coordinate their work with the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
2. Membership of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly shall be drawn exclusively from the bilateral or sub-regional delegations covered by each Assembly.
3. Membership of the Delegation for Relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly shall be drawn exclusively from the Subcommittee on Security and Defence.
4. Conference of Delegation Chairs should draw up a draft six-monthly calendar, to be adopted by the Conference of Presidents after consulting the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Development and the Committee on International Trade, on the understanding, however, that the Conference of Presidents may modify the calendar in order to respond to political events.
5. Political groups and non-attached Members shall appoint permanent substitutes to serve on each type of delegation and the number of those substitutes may not exceed the number of full members representing the groups or non-attached Members.
6. Intensify cooperation with and consultation of the committees concerned by delegation work by organising joint meetings between these bodies in its usual places of work.
7. Will endeavour to ensure in practice that one or more committee rapporteurs or chairs may likewise take part in the proceedings of delegations, joint parliamentray committees, parliamentary cooperation committees and multilateral parliamentary assemblies, and the President, at the joint request of the chairs of the delegations and committee concerned shall authorise missions of this type.