The Benelux Parliament (officially known as the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly) is one of the institutions of the Benelux economic union. The Parliament was established by an agreement signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 5 November 1955, which means it had already existed for three years when the Benelux Union was signed on 3 February 1958. The Benelux Parliament provides the governments with advice on economic and cross-frontier cooperation. Its recommendations may also concern other matters if common interests or current events so dictate. The parliament also keeps the three governments informed about the opinions that move in the parliamentary assemblies from which its members originate.[1]
In its session on 12 and 13 June 2009, the Benelux Parliament unanimously adopted a recommendation to modernise its way of working and to review the agreement signed between the three Benelux states.[2] After some years of discussions about the extension of the competences of the Benelux Parliament, a new agreement was signed on 20 January 2015.[3] It strengthened the right to interpellation and improved the parliament's ways of working. An extension of its competences to include a right of decision was not included. This new agreement changed the official name of the Parliament from the previous Benelux Interparliamentary Consultative Council to its current official name.
The members of the Benelux Parliament are divided into four factions. The Christian faction includes members of the CD&V, the CSP and the N-VA from Belgium, the CDA, the CU and the NSC from the Netherlands, and the CSV and the ADR from Luxembourg. The socialist/green SGD/SVD faction (Dutch: Socialisten, Groenen en Democraten, French: Socialistes, Verts et Démocrates)[4] includes members of the PS and Ecolo-Groen from Belgium, GroenLinks, the PvdA, and the SP from the Netherlands, and The Greens and the LSAP from Luxembourg. The liberal faction includes members of the VLD and the MR from Belgium, the VVD and the D66 from the Netherlands, and the DP from Luxembourg. The VB and the PVDA-PTB from Belgium and the BBB, and the OPNL from the Netherlands are not part of any faction.[5] In the past, Vooruit from Belgium sat in the SGD/SVD faction and CDH from Belgium was in the Christian group,[6] while the FvD, JA21, and the PvdD from the Netherlands were not part of any group.[7]
The seat of the Benelux Parliament rotates among the cities of Brussels, The Hague and Luxembourg. Each of these cities hosts the plenary meetings of the Benelux Parliament for two consecutive years. The Benelux Parliament met in Luxembourg in 2013 and 2014, in Brussels in 2015 and 2016, and meets in The Hague in 2017 and 2018. The Secretariat of the Benelux Parliament is located in Brussels.
