Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia
 

National Council for Euro-Integration

RULES OF PROCEDURE
OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR EURO-INTEGRATION

Skopje, January 2008

                                                                                    

On the basis of the Article 7 of the Decision on Establishing the National Council for Euro-Integration (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 140/07), the National Council for Euro-Integration, at the meeting held on 31 January 2008, adopted the

 

 

RULES OF PROCEDURE

of the

National Council for Euro-Integration

 

 

I. General Provisions

Article 1

These Rules of Procedure shall regulate the manner of work of the National Council for Euro-Integration (later in the text: Council); the duties and obligations of the President, of the Vice-President and of the members of the Council; the transparency of the work of the Council; the execution of the professional and administrative and other duties for the needs of the Council. 


II. Manner of work of the Council

Article 2

The President of the Council shall convene the meetings of the Council.

The President shall be obliged to convene the meeting on a proposal of a minimum of 1/3 of the members of the Council.

            The President of the Council shall distribute to the members of the Council the invitation for the meeting together with the draft agenda and the material that is to be reviewed, as a rule five days before the meeting is scheduled.

The documents written in a foreign language have to be submitted translated in Macedonian. 

On exception, for emergency issues, the documents may be submitted in another language and the translation must be provided before the holding of the meeting of the Council.

 Article 3

The Council shall determine the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

The President, the Vice President and the members of the Council have the right to propose changes and addenda to the draft agenda.

The agenda shall be adopted with consensus of the present members with the right to vote.

 
Article 4

The Council shall work and decide if majority of the members with the right to vote are present at the meeting.

The Council shall decide by consensus of the present members with the right to vote.

If it is not possible to reach a consensus on a certain issue, it shall be reviewed at the next meeting of the National Council for Euro-integration.

 
Article 5

Minutes shall be kept of the work on the Council’s meeting.

The minutes shall contain the time of the holding of the meeting, the agenda, the presence and the participation of the members in the debate, the course of the debate and the voting.

The minutes shall be adopted before the adoption of the agenda.

Each member of the Council shall have the right to make remarks on the minutes from the previous meeting. The remarks to the minutes shall be put to vote without a debate. The adopted remarks shall be included in the minutes.

The adopted minutes shall be signed by the President and by the Head of the Department for Support of the National Council for Euro-integration.

 Article 6

The minutes and the material from the meeting shall be kept in the Department for Support of the National Council for Euro-integration, and after the expiration of the mandate of the Council they shall be kept in the documentation of the Assembly.

Article 7

Audio recordings and verbatim notes shall be kept from the meetings of the Council. The verbatim notes shall be submitted to the members of the Council for approval.

Article 8

In order to review certain specific issues in its competence, as well as for preparation of analyses, opinions and reports, the Council can establish working groups.  

The working groups shall work exclusively in the framework of the Council and shall not express opinions independently.

When reviewing issues in its competence, the Council can invite representatives of the Ministries and other bodies and organization that can attend and take part at the meetings.

The Council can invite at its meetings high state officials from other countries, representatives from international organizations and other distinguished foreign dignitaries.

Article 9

The Council shall report to the Assembly about its work at least two times during the year.

The reports shall be submitted in a written form, and the President of the Council, or in his/her absence the Vice President of the Council, shall elaborate the report at a session of the Assembly.

 

III. Rights and obligations of the President and of the members of the Council

Article 10

The President of the Council shall organize the work of the Council, convene the meetings, propose the agenda and chair the meetings. The President shall sign the opinions and guidelines that the Council adopts on the issues in its competence.

The President shall be responsible for the implementation of the conclusions of the Council and of the Assembly referring to the issues in the competence of the Council and shall perform other duties regulated with the Decision for Establishing the Council and this Rules of Procedure.

Article 11

In cases when the President of the Council is prevented or is absent, the Vice-President of the Council shall have the same rights, duties and responsibilities as the President of the Council and shall perform other duties regulated with the Decision for Establishing the Council and with these Rules of Procedure.

In cases when the President and the Vice President of the Council are prevented from attending a meeting or are absent, the meeting shall be chaired by a member of the Council authorized by the President.

 Article 12

The members of the Council shall have the right and obligation to attend the Council’s meetings, to participate in its work and in the work of the working groups, to initiate convening of meetings of the Council, to request to be informed on the issues in the competence of the Council.

IV. Transparency of the work of the Council

Article 13

The meetings of the Council shall be public.

The Council may decide to work without the presence of the public if that is proposed by the President of the Council or by a minimum of 1/3 of the overall number of members of the Council.

In the cases under paragraph 2 of this Article, the Council shall issue a statement to the media.

Article 14

The transparency of the work of the Council shall be secured by:

-          Statements by the President, Vice President and the members of the Council to the media;

-          Holding press conferences;

-          Publishing of the opinions and guidelines that the Council has adopted on issues in its competence on the internet pages of the Council located on the website of the Assembly;


V.  Execution of the professional, administrative, technical and other work for the needs of the Council

 Article 16

All the professional, administrative, technical and other work for the needs of the Council shall be performed by the Department for Support of the National Council for Euro-integration.

The first three months of the functioning of the Council, until the establishing of the Department, the professional, administrative, technical and other work for the needs of the Council shall be performed by the advisers and the administrative personnel of the Staff of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia.

The professional and the other conditions for the work of the Department for Support of the National Council for Euro-integration shall be regulated with the acts on organization and systematization of the positions in the Staff of the Assembly.

Article 17

The Head of the Department shall have the responsibility for the work of the Department.

The Head of the Department shall exchange information with the advisers to the Committee on Foreign Policy, the Committee on European Affairs, the Joint Parliamentary Committee EU-Republic of Macedonia and with the Head of the International Cooperation Department on all issues in the field of Euro-integration processes. In the realization of the tasks, the Head of the Department shall cooperate with the relevant state bodies taking part in the processes for accession of the Republic of Macedonia to the European Union. 

Article 18

The Department for Support of the National Council for Euro-integration shall assist the President and the members of the Council in the preparation of the meetings of the Council, in the conducting of the debate, as well as in the preparation of the opinions, guidelines, reports and other material in the competence of the Council.

The Department shall carry out the work with regard to the cooperation of the Council with the representatives of the civil society, as well as the cooperation with the relevant parliamentary bodies from other countries aimed at exchange of experiences concerning the accession to the European Union.

The Department shall carry out other work entrusted to it by the Council.

VI. Final Provision

 

Article 19

These Rules of Procedure shall enter into force on the day of adoption.

 

No 29-429/7                          PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL
31 January 2008                    COUNCIL FOR EURO-INTEGRATION
Skopje                                Radmila Sekerinska