European Parliament @ UN General Assembly

European Parliament Headquarters in Brussels © European ParliamentThe 67th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations is in full swing. For the first time the European Parliament will be represented at its opening, which takes place on Tuesday, 25 September, in New York.

On Wednesday, 26 September, its Vice-President, Othmar Karas, will represent the European Parliament at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), on the occasion of the UN General Assembly’s high-level meeting on the rule of law. He will focus on access to justice, the rule of law and the essential role that parliaments play in it.

From 24 to 27 September, he will also represent the Parliament in the EU delegation, along with the European Commission and the Council, thus giving it a parliamentary, democratic dimension.

Parliament’s inclusion in the official EU delegation “shows the honest commitment of European Heads of State and Government to further democratisation and parliamentarisation of the European Union”, said Vice-President Karas. “If we are serious about making the EU not just a project of governments, but of citizens, then the European Parliament, which is the citizens’ chamber, must be involved in all EU decisions”, he added.

The official EU delegation will also include European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton. For more information on the participation of European Union leaders in high-level events throughout the week, please click here.

Source: European Union @ United Nations website

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