18.3.2010

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 68/1

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MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF MONDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2009

(2010/C 68/01)

(The sitting opened at 11.05 a.m.)

Formal inaugural sitting

The following addressed the Assembly:

Mr Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, Speaker of the National Assembly of Angola, Mr Wilkie Rasmussen, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Louis Michel, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and Mr José Eduardo dos Santos, President of the Republic of Angola.

(The sitting adjourned at 12.15 p.m. and resumed at 3.05 p.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Mr RASMUSSEN

Co-President

Sitting of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President welcomed all the participants.

1.   Composition of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly

The Co-President announced that the list of Members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, as forwarded by the authorities of the ACP States and the President of the European Parliament, would be annexed to the minutes.

2.   Accreditation of non-parliamentary representatives

The Co-President announced that the authorities of the ACP States had sent a list of non-parliamentary representatives. In accordance with Article 17(1) of the Partnership Agreement and Article 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, he proposed that these representatives should be recorded and their names listed in an annex to the minutes.

The Joint Parliamentary Assembly agreed to this.

The following Members spoke on the definition of the ‘absence of a Parliament’ according to Article 17(1) of the Partnership Agreement and the accreditation of representatives of Niger, Guinea and Madagascar: Lutundula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Assarid (Mali), Sall (Senegal), Co-President Michel, Striffler, Speroni and Baldeh (Gambia).

The Joint Parliamentary Assembly decided that the representatives from Niger, Guinea and Madagascar present at that session should have observer status.

3.   Substitutes

The Co-President announced the following substitutes: Attard-Montalto (for Scicluna), Bastos (for Carvalho), Binev (for McMillan-Scott), Cashman (for Toia), Czarnecki (for Legutko), Fox (for Sturdy), Girling (for Ford), Goebbels (for Bullmann), Gomes (for Moreira), Gurmai (for De Keyser), Jäätteenmäki (for Jensen), Kastler (for Caspary), Leinen (for Ferreira E.), Migalski (for Vlasák), Ponga (for De Mita), Rinaldi (for Griesbeck), Sargentini (for Jadot), Theocharous (for Kuhn) and Włosowicz (for Hannan).

4.   Adoption of draft agenda (AP/100.586)

Mr William (Seychelles) asked to speak on any other business.

The draft agenda was adopted as shown in these minutes.

5.   Approval of the minutes of the 17th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (OJ C 221 of 14.9.2009)

The minutes were approved.

6.   Co-Presidents’ Announcements, including decisions taken at the Bureau meeting of 29 November 2009

The Co-President reported on the results of the Bureau meeting of 29 November 2009.

Co-President Michel and Mr Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) spoke on the recent JPA regional meeting held in Burkina Faso.

The Co-President announced that the deadlines were as follows:

—	concerning amendments to motions for resolutions included in the reports presented by the standing committees: Monday 30 November at 6 p.m.

—	concerning amendments to motions for compromise resolutions and other urgent motions for resolutions to be put to the vote: Tuesday 1 December at 3 p.m.

—	concerning questions related to voting methods: Wednesday 2 December at 6 p.m. in writing.

7.   Statement by Mr Karel De Gucht, Member of the Commission with responsibility for development and humanitarian aid

The Co-President welcomed the Commissioner and thanked him for his commitment to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The Commissioner made his statement.

8.   Question Time to the Commission

The Co-President introduced the subject.

Altogether 23 questions were put to the Commission.

The Commission had previously replied to the questions in writing and Commissioner De Gucht gave oral replies to the supplementary questions by the following authors:

Question No 2 by Mr Guerrero Salom on Migration and the Revision of the Cotonou Agreement.

Question No 9 by Mr William (Seychelles) on Vulnerability Flex.

Question No 10 by Mr Assarid (Mali) on Vulnerability Flex.

Question No 11 by Ms Joly on Vulnerability Flex.

Question No 12 by Ms Zimmer on EU Food Facility.

Question No 4 by Mr Mitchell on Property Ownership.

Question No 5 by Ms Ronzulli on Housing project for Africa.

Question No 17 by Mr Martin on Access to Medicines.

Question No 19 by Ms Bearder on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Question No 23 by Mr Cashman on Decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Question No 6 by Mr Arif on EPAs & regional integration.

Question No 13 by Ms Rivasi on Milk export subsidies.

The Co-President ruled the supplementary question inadmissible.

Question No 21 by Ms Sargentini on Somalia.

The authors of questions 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 18, 20 and 22 had no supplementary questions.

The author of question 12 was not present.

The author of question 3 - Mr Goerens, represented by Ms Jäätteenmäki - also put a supplementary question.

9.   Action taken by the Commission on the resolutions adopted at the 17th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, held in Prague (Czech Republic)

Commissioner De Gucht referred to the document that had been distributed detailing the follow-up by the Commission to the resolutions adopted in Prague (Czech Republic).

10.   Debate with the Commission - catch-the-eye

Speakers: Leinen, Martínez Martínez, Assarid (Mali), Co-President Michel, Gomes, Durant, Ramotar (Guyana), Schmidt, McAvan, Owona (Cameroon), Ferreira J., Kastler, Engel, William (Seychelles), Sall (Senegal), Mafura (Lesotho), Attard-Montalto, Lutundula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Solamalemalo (Samoa).

The Commissioner responded to the points raised by each of the Members.

11.   Revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

The Co-President announced that the Joint Parliamentary Assembly would adopt a declaration on this matter during that session.

Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development of the European Commission and Brave Ndisale, Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and ACP chief negotiator, outlined progress on the Cotonou revision negotiations.

Speakers: Kaczmarek, Mugambe (Uganda), Arif, Owona Kono (Cameroon), Co-President Michel, Joly, Lutundula (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Zimmer, William (Seychelles), Nedelcheva, Assarid (Mali), McAvan and Sall (Senegal).

Mr Manservisi and Ms Ndisale responded to Members’ comments and questions.

(The sitting closed at 7 p.m.)

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