Slovenian National Assembly Speaker France Cukjati and his Austrian counterpart Barbara Prammer met for a second time in two days on Saturday, agreeing that national parliaments should better define their role in cooperation with the European Parliament.
The pair met in Postojna, in southwest of Slovenia, discussing preparations for a meeting of parliamentary speakers from EU to be held in Lisbon in June.
Cukjati briefed Prammer on the highlights of the recent meeting of parliamentary secretary generals in preparation for the Lisbon meeting.
He said Slovenia proposed the Lisbon meeting should appoint a special group tasked with defining ways to discuss EU issues in national legislatures, as well as the procedures for the exchange of views among them and between them and the European Parliament.
Cukjati expects the most difficult issue to resolve will be the time frame in which national parliaments would be capable forming positions on individual issues.
If the group proposed by Slovenia can be founded, it will do a lot even by encouraging parliaments to cooperate, Prammer and Cukjati agreed. A similar initiative has been made by Italy.
The pair of speakers also met European mayors who visited Postojna today as part of their stay in Slovenia. The mayors of European capitals held a two day meeting in Ljubljana earlier this week.
The Slovenian and Austrian speaker met at Arnoldstein, Austria on Friday, at an event marking Europe Day. Prammer said the meeting confirmed the good relations between the countries.
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