European Security and Defence

The Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) was established in 2012 by the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments “in the spirit of the new parliamentary dimension of the Treaty of Lisbon”. It allows for the national parliaments of the EU Member States and the European Parliament to deliberate on these policy areas which are part of intergovernmental cooperation in the European Union and not communitarized. The IPC thus has no decision-making powers of its own on foreign, security or defence policy, but instead aims to provide a forum for the exchange of opinions and experience between national and European parliamentarians.

At the meetings, Members come together with the EU Council Presidency, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy and other representatives of the EU executive. Furthermore, the conference provides Members with the opportunity to get to know the positions of colleagues from the other national parliaments and the European Parliament in greater depth, and provide information on their own points of view to these colleagues. Their scope for exerting influence results primarily from the competences and parliamentary instruments in their own home parliament. This means of interparliamentary cooperation also strengthens the European Parliament, which has limited powers in these policy areas.