The joint and international cooperation

According to the Constitution and the governing acts, the Communities are competent for the national and international cooperation as well as that related to the execution of agreements for the matters that concern their competencies.

In theory, the Government is responsible for the organization of these cooperations (negotiations of treaties) and the Parliament takes on responsibility for a series of significant tasks.

Treaties

The Government of the German-speaking Community passes the national and international treaties and agreements and submits them to the Parliament for ratification. The following belong to these treaties and agreements:

• The agreements aimed at promoting the cooperation with the federal State as well as with the other regions and communities of Belgium (e.g. the promotion of employment, the fight against drug use, the European representation, etc)
• The international cooperation agreements with German “Länder” (such as the cross-border cooperation with North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) or with European states such as the Republic of Hungary or France.
• The agreements concluded with Europe for which the German-speaking Community can carry out its competencies (e.g. the agreement concerning the entry of new member states into the European Union, the European constitutional treaty, the partnership agreements with the non-EU countries, etc)
• The other international agreements that refer to the Community competencies and whose negotiation and signature took place within the framework of several supranational institutions (e.g. several agreements coming from the United Nations concerning child rights, the prohibition of child trafficking and the sexual offences against children, agreement from the International Labour Organization concerning the equal treatment in the workplace, etc)
• The cooperation agreements concerning the creation of international organizations (e.g. the foundation Euregio Meuse-Rhine, the European Tourism Institute in Trier, etc)

Joint committees

A commission of experts of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community, responsible for the cooperation, and the corresponding commission of the other communitarian Parliaments meet once a year in order to draw up a cooperation assessment. A commission report is then submitted to the plenary session.

The Parliament of the German-speaking Community and the Walloon Parliament also cooperate in forming a joint committee constituted by both of the legislative bodies. Regular communication is fundamental since many daily situations concerning the citizens may implicate as well the regional competencies as the communitarian ones. For example, a balanced social policy of the Community related to the building of houses requires a regional competence. Another instance: the hunting regulation of the region meddles in the Community’s interests as for tourism.

Representations

According to the governing act, the Parliament’s President represents the Parliament of the German-speaking Community at the international level.

The President yearly takes part in the CALRE’s session. The CALRE is the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies. The CALRE goes by the subsidiarity principle to say that the democratic control of the Europe’s management starts within the regions or the member states. This is why it declares itself in favour of a larger integration of the regional Parliaments in the European decision process.

Regular contacts

Within the framework of its activities, the parliament keeps in touch with the other countries and parliaments. These contacts may be the reception of an ambassador as well as the visit of other Belgian or foreign parliaments. This task falls to the Parliament’s President and its Bureau.