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"It is a difficult field, and the media shows correspondingly little interest, but the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union of the German Bundestag has made history - thanks to a guaranteed special right. It is the only parliamentary committee able to adopt opinions that are as binding on the Federal Government as the decisions of the Bundestag. With this privilege, the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union has already made an essential contribution to the further development of the European Union." (Der Spiegel, 9 February 2002)

The Committee on the Affairs of the European Union, also known in short as the EU Committee, is the fourth committee mentioned specifically in the German constitution. According to Article 45 of the Basic Law, it is compulsory for it to be set up in each electoral term.

The establishment of an EU Committee endowed with special rights also represented an attempt to draw the organisational and legal conclusions for parliament from the fact that, as constitutionally anchored in Article 23 of the Basic Law, the Bundestag, the Bundesrat and the Federal Government are jointly responsible for European affairs.

In principle, all the committees of the German Bundestag discuss European affairs in so far as they relate to the specialised areas for which they are responsible. However, the EU Committee is the central forum for the decision-making process on European policy.

In its function as a "committee on integration", it is responsible for fundamental questions relating to European integration, such as institutional reform of the EU, other amendments to the Community Treaties, EU enlargement, and cooperation with the European Parliament and the national parliaments of the other member states.

Apart from its role as a committee on integration, the EU Committee is also a "horizontal committee" within the committee system of the German Bundestag. This means that it takes action in particular when a European proposal touches on a variety of policy fields and it is not possible to identify one particular field within which it falls.

During the 14th electoral term, the EU Committee has performed this function by examining, in some cases as the committee assigned primary responsibility for an item, the parliamentary transposition of Agenda 2000, the Treaty of Nice, the enlargement negotiations between the EU and ten Central and Eastern European countries, Malta and Cyprus, the debate on the future of the EU and the European Convention established at the Laeken European Council.

Other important topics addressed by the Committee during the current 14th electoral term, which began in 1998, have included:

• the EU's Charter of fundamental rights,

• the EU's Balkan policy, in particular the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe,

• the EU's common foreign and security policy,

• the EU's trade relations, in particular with the USA.

Finally, alongside the specialised committees responsible for particular items, the EU Committee takes part in the discussion of draft EU legislation, in so far as the proposals in question are of particular significance for policy on integration.

In order to ensure a broad basis for its deliberations, the EU Committee also holds hearings of experts. For example, during the 14th electoral period hearings have been held on issues relating to the establishment of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the aid provided by international financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe.

The EU Committee's work is characterised by comprehensive reporting on all proposals of relevance to policy on integration at German and EU level. Thus, the Federal Government reports to the Committee on progress in deliberations before and after negotiations in the Councils of Ministers in Brussels, while the Committee informs the Federal Government of points that, from the perspective of parliament, it is essential to take into account in forthcoming negotiations.

The Federal Government is obliged to report comprehensively and at the earliest possible date on the extent to which it has taken the opinions of the Bundestag into account in the deliberations of the Councils of Ministers. These extensive reporting duties ensure that the German Bundestag exerts an appropriate level of influence on policy within the European Union. The Federal Chancellor regularly appears before the EU Committee prior to the half-yearly meetings of the European Council to speak and answer questions on the agenda for the forthcoming summit and progress made on European integration.

However, the EU Committee does not concern itself with the transposition into national law of directives already adopted by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. This task, which from the point of view of European policy is one of executing rather than shaping European legislation, is reserved for the Bundestag?s specialised committees.

In addition to 33 Members of the Bundestag, 14 German Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit on the EU Committee. They are appointed by the President of the Bundestag on the basis of nominations submitted by the parliamentary groups.

Although the MEPs are not entitled to vote on the Bundestag Committee, they form a necessary link to the European Parliament and contribute to the direct exchange of information between the parliaments.

Unlike the other committees of the German Bundestag, the EU Committee possesses a number of special powers.

Thus, subject to certain preconditions and following agreement with the specialised committees involved, it is able to submit binding opinions directly to the Federal Government (i.e. without debate in the plenary). Furthermore, where a specialised committee has submitted a recommendation for a decision, the EU Committee can move amendments to the recommendation in the plenary of the Bundestag. Finally, the EU Committee is entitled to convene for meetings in weeks when the Bundestag is not sitting if this is necessary.

On account of the broad scope of the EU Committee's activities, it cooperates closely with the other permanent committees of the German Bundestag.

Meetings with members of the European Commission and the European Parliament play a major part in the Committee's activities.

The EU Committee also cultivates close contacts with the committees responsible for European affairs in the national parliaments of the other EU member states and the candidate countries, as well as the Committee on Institutional Affairs of the European Parliament. This cooperation is institutionalised to a certain extent in the meetings of COSAC (Conference of bodies concerned with Community affairs in the Parliaments of the European Community) that take place on a half-yearly basis in the country holding the Presidency of the European Council. These events bring together representatives of the committees on European affairs of the national parliaments and the European Parliament?s Committee on Institutional Affairs.

Since its foundation in November 1989, COSAC has provided a valuable forum for informal exchanges of information and experience between members of parliamentary committees on EU affairs. However, since it is not, in terms of its composition, a representative body, COSAC's opinions are only informal in nature and are not binding on the individual parliaments. The EU Committee hosted the XXth COSAC during the German Presidency of the European Council in the first half of 1999.