Parliamentary consultation on the topic of committees of enquiry in Mongolia

As part of a constitutional reform in Mongolia in 2019, the right to establish parliamentary committees of enquiry was enshrined in the constitution. This served as the occasion for a Mongolian-German parliamentary dialogue on the topic of parliamentary oversight on 10 May 2021, in which the IParl also took part. The event, which was organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and took place virtually due to the pandemic, was attended by more than 50 participants, including parliamentarians and many employees of the Mongolian parliament. After an introductory welcome by the Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament, Gombojav Zandanshtar, and the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Mongolia, Jörn Rosenberg, Dr Danny Schindler gave a general presentation on the practice of parliamentary scrutiny in Germany. His remarks were supplemented by Bundestags member of parliament Dr Fritz Felgentreu (SPD), who once again emphasised the special framework conditions from the perspective of a majority parliamentary group (of which Felgentreu has always been a member). In the second part of the event, Danny Schindler spoke about the possibilities for scrutiny by the German Bundestag's committees of enquiry. The former Federal Minister of Justice, Prof. Dr Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD) and the MP Dr Jens Zimmermann (SPD), member of the Wirecard Committee of Inquiry, provided further insights into committee practice. During the discussion, many questions were asked about the German Investigative Committee Act (Act on the Regulation of the Law of Investigative Committees of the German Bundestages). The Chairman of the Legislative Committee in the Mongolian Parliament, Sandag Byambatsogt, was particularly interested in the German regulations. Mr Byambatsogt also heads a working group that is working on a draft law on the committee of enquiry. The debate highlighted the importance of simple legal regulations as a supplement to and concretisation of constitutional norms. The devil is literally in the legislative detail. In addition, the core realisation remains that competences can only be filled with life with the help of appropriate human resources. The dialogue will continue - perhaps and hopefully in a face-to-face version.