Tasks and responsibilities

The Foreign Affairs Committee is a standing committee with a broad agenda. The committee addresses any topic related to foreign and security policy. Development aid also plays a prominent role in the committee’s work. The committee closely monitors the Government’s work in these fields.

The committee’s tasks and responsibilities falls into two primary areas:

• processing bills and motions within the committee’s remit
• parliamentary scrutiny of the Government’s foreign, security and development policy, as well as observance of laws and mandates passed by the Danish Parliament related to foreign affairs. 

Parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s foreign policy is often the Foreign Affairs Committee's primary activity. In practice, members of the committee exercise parliamentary scrutiny by tabling questions to the minister.

The Constitutional Act stipulates that the Government is responsible for Denmark’s foreign policy. Foreign policy is therefore seldom subject to parliamentary compromises or legislation. Development aid is, however, part of the Parliament’s passing of the annual finance act.

The difference between the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Foreign Policy Committee

The Foreign Affairs Committee and the Foreign Policy Committee both work with foreign affairs, but each has its own distinct sphere of responsibility. The Constitutional Act of Denmark stipulates that the Government must consult the Foreign Policy Committee in matters of major importance to foreign policy. The primary task of the Foreign Affairs Committee is to process bills and motions and exercise parliamentary scrutiny.