Draft

Draft Baltic Council In compliance with point 5 of the Co-operation protocol between the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers, the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers agreed on the following procedure for submitting questions by the members of the Baltic Assembly to the Baltic Council of Ministers and for getting reports on them:

1. Questions relating to the co-operation of the Baltic States may be submitted to the Baltic Council of Ministers by the members of the Baltic Assembly personally or on behalf of the delegation of the appropriate BA member state, specific standing committee or registered party group (faction).
2. Questions shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Baltic Assembly in Riga. Upon registering them at the Secretariat of the Baltic Assembly, the Secretariat shall immediately refer the questions to the authorised representatives of the Co-operation Committee of the Baltic Council of Ministers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and shall inform the Presidium of the Baltic Assembly about this. Representatives of the Co-operation Committee of the Baltic Council of Ministers shall forward the questions to the respective addressee in the country.
3. The heads of the governments of the Baltic States or the ministers whom they have authorised to do so shall provide answers on behalf of the Baltic Council of Ministers. Answers shall be drawn up in written form within two weeks after receipt of the question and shall be submitted without delay to the Co-operation Committee of the Baltic Council of Ministers.
4. Representatives of the Co-operation Committee of the Baltic Council of Ministers shall forward the answers to the Secretariat of the Baltic Assembly in Riga.
5. The Secretariat of the Baltic Assembly shall distribute answers to the national delegations of the Baltic Assembly, attaching the full text of the question and indicating the registration number of the question, as well as the name of the person who submitted the question.
6. An agenda of the Baltic Council shall include only those questions that have been submitted not later than one month before the Baltic Council. Answers to the questions shall be drawn up in accordance with the procedure described in points 1 to
8. The agenda of the Baltic Council shall allocate a special time for the Baltic Council of Ministers to answer the questions of the members of the Baltic Assembly. Within this time period the members of the Baltic Assembly may orally pose to representatives of the Baltic Council of Ministers not more than two follow-up questions in relation to the answers received. Romualds RAŽuks Andris Bērziņš Chairman Presidium of the Baltic Assembly Chairman Baltic Council of Ministers 1 June 2001, Riga