31/05/11
The Conference of European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the Member States of the EU (COSAC) that took place from 29 to 31 May in Budapest was attended by the Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and control of EU funds Monika Panayotova, Vladimir Toshev and four MPs from the committee.
The conference was opened by the President of the Hungarian Parliament, Mr. Laszlo Kover and President of the European Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament and hosting the meeting, Mr Richard Horchsik.
The first speaker, Mr. Victor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, reviewed the Hungarian EU Presidency, emphasizing on strengthening economic governance and the launch of the European semester. Among other achievements of the Presidency, Mr Orban mentioned also the preparation of a common European strategy on Roma, the adoption of the Danube strategy, raising the debates on the issues of family, activities to protect the euro and migration issues in the context of the events that took place in North Africa.
Within this debate on behalf of the Bulgarian delegation Vladimir Toshev (MP) made a statement in which he thanked the Hungarian presidency for the efforts regarding the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen zone. He also noted that the country has met all technical criteria and our readiness reports are fully positive. Further, Mr. Toshev noted that as EU member state the question for us is not whether but when we’ll be adopted in Schengen, as our accession in short period will immediately make us a part of solving the problem in the Mediterranean and North Africa. "Unclear reasons for delay and postponement of our acceptance constitute a challenge to Bulgaria's image. We fully recognize the commitments that we assume and our country is fully prepared to take the responsibilities arising from this membership," said Mr. Toshev. In response to requests by the Bulgarian and Romanian delegations for support from all sides, Viktor Orban commented the issue of Bulgaria and Romania accession in Schengen by mentioning that the arguments for an end to the Schengen area were unacceptable. The two countries have fulfilled all the criteria and now the Member States of the Schengen must agree to their adoption as soon as possible. According to him, if we focused only on elections (in countries where they are ahead), this will not lead to progress in Europe.
After Mr Orban word was given to Deputy President of the European Commission responsible for inter-institutional dialogue, Mr. Maros Sefcovic. The main themes that Mr. Sefcovic affected were the way to recovery from the crisis in the context of new economic governance of the Union, Europe 2020 strategy and new initiative for a European semester. The main emphasis was placed on the common market, the legislative package to strengthen economic management and the pact "Euro +. The themes for the new economic management, the European semester and annual review of growth are widely covered and analyzed in the report prepared by the COSAC Secretariat 15th semiannual report. The positions of the Bulgarian Parliament are significantly accepted in the report.
An active debate caused the Directive on the common consolidated basis for corporate tax, recently proposed by the European Commission, which raised concerns in many member states and about which the Bulgarian Parliament delivered its first reasoned opinion that this proposal was contrary to subsidiary principle, enshrined established in the Treaty of Lisbon. Representatives of nine of the overall 27 parliaments (with a total score of 13 votes, a minimum of 18) spoke against the proposal, arguing that it affected the sovereignty of individual countries and would not support it, and therefore sent reasoned opinions. This position is fully in line with the reasoned opinion of the Bulgarian Parliament, stating that a common consolidated tax base across the EU will deprive the individual Member States of their key competitive advantages, and the EU as a whole will lead to so-called "dissolution of gap between Member States without counting "the process of catching up" from the new Member States, it will put pressure on the indirect tax rate, will lead to significant administrative and financial burdens, will deprive the national budget from tax revenues, which are part of the budget planning.
Save for the issue of taxation, the representatives of national parliaments were interested in the topics concerning the Danube strategy and its implementation, the common agricultural policy with emphasis on the reform connected with the direct payments, migration for work purposes, etc.
During the meeting there were also discussed the conclusions of the meeting of Presidents of Parliaments of the Member States, held in April in Brussels, the main emphasis was placed on the common foreign and security policy and defense.
The Conference of European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the Member States of the EU (COSAC) that took place from 29 to 31 May in Budapest was attended by the Chairwoman of the Committee on European Affairs and control of EU funds Monika Panayotova, Vladimir Toshev and four MPs from the committee.
The conference was opened by the President of the Hungarian Parliament, Mr. Laszlo Kover and President of the European Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Parliament and hosting the meeting, Mr Richard Horchsik.
The first speaker, Mr. Victor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, reviewed the Hungarian EU Presidency, emphasizing on strengthening economic governance and the launch of the European semester. Among other achievements of the Presidency, Mr Orban mentioned also the preparation of a common European strategy on Roma, the adoption of the Danube strategy, raising the debates on the issues of family, activities to protect the euro and migration issues in the context of the events that took place in North Africa.
Within this debate on behalf of the Bulgarian delegation Vladimir Toshev (MP) made a statement in which he thanked the Hungarian presidency for the efforts regarding the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in the Schengen zone. He also noted that the country has met all technical criteria and our readiness reports are fully positive. Further, Mr. Toshev noted that as EU member state the question for us is not whether but when we’ll be adopted in Schengen, as our accession in short period will immediately make us a part of solving the problem in the Mediterranean and North Africa. "Unclear reasons for delay and postponement of our acceptance constitute a challenge to Bulgaria's image. We fully recognize the commitments that we assume and our country is fully prepared to take the responsibilities arising from this membership," said Mr. Toshev. In response to requests by the Bulgarian and Romanian delegations for support from all sides, Viktor Orban commented the issue of Bulgaria and Romania accession in Schengen by mentioning that the arguments for an end to the Schengen area were unacceptable. The two countries have fulfilled all the criteria and now the Member States of the Schengen must agree to their adoption as soon as possible. According to him, if we focused only on elections (in countries where they are ahead), this will not lead to progress in Europe.
After Mr Orban word was given to Deputy President of the European Commission responsible for inter-institutional dialogue, Mr. Maros Sefcovic. The main themes that Mr. Sefcovic affected were the way to recovery from the crisis in the context of new economic governance of the Union, Europe 2020 strategy and new initiative for a European semester. The main emphasis was placed on the common market, the legislative package to strengthen economic management and the pact "Euro +. The themes for the new economic management, the European semester and annual review of growth are widely covered and analyzed in the report prepared by the COSAC Secretariat 15th semiannual report. The positions of the Bulgarian Parliament are significantly accepted in the report.
An active debate caused the Directive on the common consolidated basis for corporate tax, recently proposed by the European Commission, which raised concerns in many member states and about which the Bulgarian Parliament delivered its first reasoned opinion that this proposal was contrary to subsidiary principle, enshrined established in the Treaty of Lisbon. Representatives of nine of the overall 27 parliaments (with a total score of 13 votes, a minimum of 18) spoke against the proposal, arguing that it affected the sovereignty of individual countries and would not support it, and therefore sent reasoned opinions. This position is fully in line with the reasoned opinion of the Bulgarian Parliament, stating that a common consolidated tax base across the EU will deprive the individual Member States of their key competitive advantages, and the EU as a whole will lead to so-called "dissolution of gap between Member States without counting "the process of catching up" from the new Member States, it will put pressure on the indirect tax rate, will lead to significant administrative and financial burdens, will deprive the national budget from tax revenues, which are part of the budget planning.Save for the issue of taxation, the representatives of national parliaments were interested in the topics concerning the Danube strategy and its implementation, the common agricultural policy with emphasis on the reform connected with the direct payments, migration for work purposes, etc.
During the meeting there were also discussed the conclusions of the meeting of Presidents of Parliaments of the Member States, held in April in Brussels, the main emphasis was placed on the common foreign and security policy and defense.
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