The S&D Group in the European Parliament strongly believes that the heart of European democracy lies in the strength of its parliaments: at a European and national level. The European Parliament and national parliaments embody European democracy in action. This is why the S&D Group considers its colleagues from national parliaments as natural allies.
The S&D inter-parliamentary network encompasses over 1400 members across 26 Member States and 35 parliamentary chambers. Our political family maintains very close ties with its national parliamentary sister groups thanks to regular political family meetings, but also thanks to an active political network. Indeed, the S&D Group organises numerous political family meetings ahead of institutional inter-parliamentary meetings and conferences such as:
- the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC)
- the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP / CSDP)
- the Parliamentary Week and European Semester
- the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the EU (IPC-SECG)
- inter-parliamentary committee meetings (organised by the European Parliament)
The S&D Group is also firmly convinced that inter-parliamentary cooperation is essential at the highest political level. This is the reason why the S&D Group regularly hosts summits of social-democratic parliamentary leaders. These summits bring together all the S&D parliamentary group chairs from our national parliaments and are critical to build mutual understanding and define common political perspectives and priorities.
These encounters offer a unique opportunity for all of our European and national members to join forces and coordinate their positions and priorities on key issues for the Socialists & Democrats’ parliamentary family.
S&D MEPs are committed to working hand in hand with their national members of parliaments to make Europe more socially just, sustainable, cohesive and accountable.
