ECPRD
European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD)
In June 1977, the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD), a community sharing parliamentary knowledge, was established at the request of the Speakers of European Parliamentary Assemblies. Ever since, it has become a useful tool for inter-parliamentary cooperation and information exchange.
Composition
The ECPRD members are Parliaments whose Speaker is a member of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament: the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Member States of the European Union and the Council of Europe. The latter consists of the 27 EU Member States as well as Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The ECPRD services are also available for countries having observer status in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Canada, Israel and Mexico).
Activities
The main activities of the ECPRD involve dealing with requests from one Parliament to the others for information, in order to compare the legislative activities and parliamentary practices across different countries and in different institutions.
There are also seminars hosted by one of the ECPRD member Parliaments that enable participants from member Parliaments to exchange different experiences and practice.
Structure
The European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe chair ECPRD jointly. The Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments of the European Parliament hosts its Secretariat.
Four functions make up the ECPRD's governing structure:
- Two Co-Directors, each of whom assisted by a Secretary
- The Conference of Correspondents
- The Executive Committee
- Coordinators for the four Areas of Interest (a. Parliamentary Practice and Procedure, b. Parliamentary Libraries, Research and Archives, c. Information and Communication Technology in Parliaments and d. Economic and Budgetary Affairs).
Relations with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) consists of Parliamentarians representing the national Parliaments of the organisation's 47 member states. They meet four times a year in Strasbourg to discuss topical issues and request that the European governments take initiatives and update on their progress. Each country, depending on its population, has two to eighteen representatives, who reflect the political balances as per its national Parliament.
Cooperation between the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is based on an agreement signed in 2007. This agreement envisages regular meetings between the political leaders and administrations of the two institutions. Other contacts between the two institutions include ad-hoc dialogue at committee level on specific issues or joint electoral observation missions. Once the European Union becomes a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, a number of MEPs will also be able to vote when PACE elects judges to the European Court of Human Rights.
Cooperation with PACE is also enshrined in the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure, with Rule 199 stipulating that "Parliament's bodies, particularly the committees, shall cooperate with their counterparts at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in fields of mutual interest, with the aim in particular of improving the efficiency of their work and avoiding duplication of effort". The Rules also lay down that the Conference of Presidents, in agreement with the competent authorities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, shall decide on the arrangements for implementing these provisions.
At an administrative level, the two institutions cooperate for instance through the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD), which on the EP side is managed by the Directorate for Relations with National Parliaments.
However, for practical reasons the bulk of the Centre's work has always been carried out by the European Parliament.
The existence of the ECPRD in which both institutions work together closely is a bridge linking EU Parliaments and non-EU Parliaments. This has permitted staff of non-EU member Parliaments to familiarize themselves with European parliamentary research and documentation long before their countries became full EU members.