Interparliamentary EU Information Exchange - History and Role

History and Role

IPEX came about as the result of a recommendation made by the Conference of the Speakers of the European Union Parliaments in Rome in 2000. In accordance with the Guidelines for interparliamentary cooperation, agreed in The Hague in 2004, the official launch of the website took place in June 2006 during the EU Speakers Conference in Copenhagen. The website was later redesigned, launching its new format in 2011.

IPEX aims to support: the Speakers Conference; the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC); meetings of the specialized committees of the national Parliaments and of the European Parliament; interparliamentary meetings; and the liaison offices of the national parliaments in Brussels. IPEX is thus one of the major pillars of interparliamentary communication on European affairs, drawing together information from each of the national parliaments across the EU.

IPEX is intended to enable the national parliaments of EU Member States to cooperate more closely and coordinate their approaches to European affairs, whilst also seeking to make interparliamentary cooperation on EU matters accessible to European citizens. In this context, IPEX offers multilingual navigation and publishes fundamental texts and opinions of the national parliaments in English, French and other EU languages.

IPEX receives contributions from all national Parliaments of the Member States of the European Union, the national parliaments of the candidate countries and from the European Parliament. In order to promote interparliamentary cooperation, IPEX is open to COSAC and the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD).