On the invitation of National Councillor Ignazio Cassis (PLR, Ticino), President of the Swiss delegation for relations with the European parliament, issued in Brussels on 22 March this year, Pat the Cope Gallagher, President of the EU Parliamentary Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway (DEEA) will be visiting Bern on 23 September 2010. This visit is part of the intensification and redefinition of relations between the two parliaments following the increased importance of the European parliament under the terms of the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009.
The tone for more intensified relations between the two parliaments was set in 2009, when Chiara Simoneschi-Cortesi, the President of the Swiss parliament, made an official visit to Brussels. The Swiss delegation subsequently visited its European counterpart in Brussels in March 2010, and received the EU Parliamentary Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection in Bern on 26 May last.
Ambassador Michael Reiterer, Head of the EU delegation to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and Ambassador Henri Gétaz, Head of the Integration Office (FDFA/FDEA) will also be present at the meeting on 23 September.
In Ireland, Pat the Cope Gallagher has several times held the office of Deputy Minister for transport, the environment, maritime affairs, health promotion and food security. He has been a member of the European parliament since 1994, representing the Alliance Group of democrats and liberals for Europe.
This meeting, at which a date for the DEEA’s official visit to Lugano in 2011 will be fixed, will help to strengthen one-to-one relations between the members of the two parliaments as well enabling them to gain a better understanding of what each expects. Furthermore, it will complement, at a parliamentary level, the diplomatic steps already taken by the Federal Council and its relations with the European Commission.
Headed by National Councillor Ignazio Cassis (PLR/Ticino), the Swiss delegation for relations with the European parliament is made up of 4 members of the Council of States, namely Simonetta Sommaruga (Vice-President, PS/Bern), Eugen David (PDC/St. Gallen), Raphaël Comte (PLR/Neuchâtel) and Hannes Germann (UDC/Schaffhausen), and 5 National Councillors, namely Brigitta Gadient (PBD/Grisons), Hans Kaufmann (UDC/Zurich), Mario Fehr (PS/Zurich), Marlies Baenziger (Greens/Zurich) and Kathy Riklin (PDC/Zurich).
Bern, 23 September 2010 Parliamentary services