The conference on stability, economic coordination and governance: filling the gaps of parliamentary oversight in the EU

In the EU institutional architecture, parliamentary oversight of economic and fiscal policies is weakened by the existence of spheres of activity that tend to escape from the two ordinary channels of parliamentary representation. The consideration of existing gaps in the oversight circuit leads to investigate on the actual as well as the potential role of the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance (SECG). A representation of the actual pros and cons of this Conference is drawn by means of the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. On this basis, strategies suited to turn this Conference into a body instrumental to strengthened and effective parliamentary oversight are highlighted, considering interparliamentary cooperation not as an autonomous channel for representation, but as an instrumental dimension that could help the European Parliament and national parliaments to tighten their oversight capacity, in their respective domains.