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The EU Parliament Speakers Conference, at a meeting in Warsaw in April 2012, adopted a decision to establish the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The impulse for the establishment of the Conference was an effort to strengthen the role of national Parliaments of the EU Member States and the European Parliament in EU´s decision making in the fields of the foreign and security policy.
The Inter-Parliamentary Conference (IPC) provides a framework for the exchange of information in the areas of CFSP and CSDP aiming to fully inform national Parliaments and the European Parliament in carrying out their roles regarding this agenda. IPC may also by a consensus adopt the non-binding conclusions on CFSP and CSDP matters related to the program of the Conference.
The Inter-Parliamentary Conference gathers together delegations of the national Parliaments of the EU Member States and the European Parliament. National Parliaments may be represented by a maximum of six Members each, while the Delegation of the European Parliament is represented by sixteen Members. National Parliaments of EU candidate countries and European member countries of NATO (not EU Members) may be represented by a delegation composed of four observers.
The Inter-Parliamentary Conference convenes once every six months in the country currently presiding the Council of the EU or in the European Parliament in Brussels. The Conference is led by the presiding Parliament in close cooperation with the European Parliament. The Secretariat for the Conference is provided by the presiding Parliament in coordination with the European Parliament, along with the previous and next Presidency Parliaments (so-called Troika).