Monday, 25 March 2019, Paris, French Republic: German and French parliamentarians have set up their own joint parliamentary body after a ceremonious signing of a convention between the Bundestag’s Speaker Wolfgang Schäuble and the President of the French National Assembly, Richard Ferrand.
In total 50 deputies from Germany and 50 from France partook for the first time in a joint parliamentary session at the Salle Lamartine, a committee hall located at the Palais Bourbon.
The project meant to drive forward European integration is the first concrete step taken since the Treaty of Aachen/Aix-la-Chappelle was inked on 22 January 2019. Substantial debates are to be focused on a citizens’ fund, language exchanges and promotion or border-crossing collaboration.
Altogether 14 parliamentary fractions will be represented at joint sessions, six Germans and eight French. A initial topic of contention was the common “European” seat at the UN Security Council, whereby some Germans call upon France to forfeit their own seat to pave the way for one for the European Union.
According to the parliamentary agreement the new assembly is to come together twice per annum. They are able to issue influential yet non-binding resolutions upon their governments.
For further information:
French National Assembly: http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/presse/espace-presse/communiques-de-presse/mars-2019#node_57707
Main image by Assemblee nationale de France
