The diplomatic role of the European Parliament’s standing committees, delegations and assemblies: insights from ACP–EU inter-parliamentary cooperation

This article focuses on the contribution that the European Parliament’s standing committees, delegations and inter-parliamentary assemblies make as diplomatic actors in the post-Lisbon Treaty period. These three types of bodies and institutions are grouped together, because in practice they work in complementary ways. The committees play a coordinating role, the delegations act as ‘embassies on the move’ and the participation of the European Parliament in inter-parliamentary assemblies represents the clearest institutional sign of the European Parliament’s external action. The article focuses on a case study: the involvement of the European Parliament in the EU’s partnership with the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries (ACP) through the Development Committee (DEVE), the competent European Parliament delegation, and the activities within the Joint Parliamentary Assembly. The article aims to analyse whether and how the European Parliament is able to play a distinctive diplomatic role through its standing committees, delegations and inter-parliamentary assemblies.