The European Parliament's 24 committee chairs met the College of Commissioners for the first time on 7 October, to give their input to the Commission work programme for 2011. This meeting lisbon Treaty's mandate for further cooperation between the two institutions.

The Lisbon Treaty enhances cooperation between the EuropeanParliament and the Commission, a cooperation which is in part achieved by the meeting of committee chairs and Commissioners. This meeting is a part of the new procedure that stems from the recently-negotiated Framework Agreement governing the relations between Paliament and Commission which enables Parliament to provide its input to following year's Commission work programme before it is adopted in October.

Parliament's delegation highlighted the significance of this first meeting between the Parliament's Conference of Committee Chairs and the College of Commissioners as an example of the good co-operation between the institutions, in this case for the joint preparation of the legislative work programme for next year.

The aim of the meeting was to give Parliament's input into the Commission work programme for 2011, to be published on 27 October. To facilitate discussion, topics were divided into five clusters:

• new sources of growth
• EU budget
• economic and social issues
• citizens, security and justice
• external policies and fisheries

Each cluster was opened by a chair of one of Parliament's committees, followed by a contribution from one of the Commissioners. There was also time for a short discussion in which MEPs could pose questions on specific legislative issues in all the clusters.

After the Commission has presented the new work programme, the European Parliament will debate it and adopt a resolution on it in plenary session.