Cercare

Members of the European Parliament form official groups – delegations – with ties to regions and organisations, as well as parliaments, in non-EU countries. Parliament has expanded its impact EU in foreign policy in recent decades, and its delegations are a key component of its diplomatic work.

The Lisbon Treaty has rung in a new era of democratic and human rights governance. In an attempt to redress concerns about the EU’s alleged democratic deficit and inability to speak with one voice on cross-cutting issues of human rights, both the empowered European Parliament (EP) and national parliaments (NPs) are meant to ‘contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union’ through inter-parliamentary cooperation (IPC). At the same time, the EU’s action is also poised to systematically ‘put ...