Tarpparlamentiniai susitikimai

In the margin of the meetings of the four Standing Committees, Working Group on Security, Civil Society and Women's Forum of EuroLat, which took place in Panama City from 3 to 6 April 2018, the DCAM and Parlacen Bureaux met on 5 April and discussed the following items:

• Rules of Procedure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) EU-Central America between Parlacen, Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica and the European Parliament and the proposal of a meeting between the three parts in Vienna in September 2018;
  

• Speech by H.E. Sr. Kenny Bell, Ambassador of the EU to SICA, and Giovanni Girolamo, Chargé d'Affaires of the EU Delegation in Panama City, on the regional cooperation between the EU and SICA;

• Speech by H.E. Secretary General of SIECA, Melvin Enrique Redondo, on the implementation of the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America.

The Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America, which visited Costa Rica and Panama from 28 March to 1 April 2016, was led by DCAM Chair Sofia SAKORAFA (GUE/NGL, Greece) and composed of five other MEPs, Gabriel Mato, Vice-Chair (EPP, Spain), Pilar AYUSO (EPP, Spain), Soraya POST (S&D, Sweden), José Inácio FARIA (ALDE, Portugal), and Mireille D'ORNANO (ENF, France).

The delegation addressed a broad variety of issues during its visit to Costa Rica and Panama, ranging from economic and political aspects to the social, legal and human rights situation in both countries. This visit offered an opportunity to the delegation members to become acquainted with some of the specificities of each country.

Exercising its scrutiny activities, the EP Delegation visited project-sites in both countries, allowing the MEPs to have a look at the implementation of EU funded projects.

The visit also included two important inter-parliamentary events. In San José a tripartite meeting of the EP Delegation, PARLACEN and the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica discussed the roadmap for the establishment of a Joint Parliamentary Committee. In Panama City a public forum was held with the participation of PARLACEN and the National Assembly of Panama discussing the advantages of the relations EU-Central America.

The Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America, which visited Guatemala and Honduras from 16 to 20 February 2015, was headed by Sofia Sakorafa (GUE/NGL, EL). She was accompanied by MEPs Caterina Chinnici (S&D, IT) and Miroslav Mikolášik (EPP, SK).

The delegation addressed a broad variety of issues during its visit to Guatemala and Honduras, ranging from economic and social aspects to the social, legal and human rights situation in both countries. This visit offered an opportunity to the delegation members to become acquainted with some of the specificities of each country. In Honduras several projects-sites were visited, allowing the EP Delegation to have a look at the implementation of EU funded projects.

The Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America, did a working visit on 29-31 October 2012 to Panama City and San Jose. It was led by the delegation Chair, Emine Bozkurt (S&D, NL), who was accompanied by the MEPs:

• Astrid Lulling (PPE, LU)
• Pilar Ayuso (PPE, ES)
• Christa Klass (PPE, DE)
• Inés Ayala Sender (S&D, ES)
• Ryszard Czarnecki (ECR, PL)
• Pablo Zalba Bidegain (PPE, ES) as the standing rapporteur for the Association Agreement for Parliament's Committee on International Trade.

The visit was an especially relevant one, as it coincided with the first stages of the process leading to ratification of the EU-Central America Association Agreement (AA) in Panama and Costa Rica. The visit gave the MEPs an opportunity to inquire about potential difficulties facing the ratification process in each of the countries visited and to send a clear signal of the EU's keen interest in seeing the Agreement come into force as soon as possible.

The issue of regional integration was also addressed at many of the meetings held, due to the difficulties being encountered in consolidating this process in the region.

The Working Group arrived in Panama just a few hours after the end of the disturbances in Colón, which made the topic a recurring element in discussions with the Panamanian authorities.

An inter-parliamentary meeting (IPM) was held in Strasbourg on 13 June 2013 with the Delegation for relations with the countries of Central America and a delegation from the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN).

Participants addressed the following topics:

• Possible entry into force of the EU-Central America Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement of 12 December 2003 and its consequences, including the forthcoming setting-up of a EU-Central America Joint Parliamentary Committee,
• Exchange of views on the state of bilateral relations between the EU and Central America, progress made in the Central American integration process and the ongoing institutional reform process of the SICA,
• State of play of the ratification process of the Association Agreement between the EU and Central America.