At a joint public hearing of the Parliamentary Council for Sustainable Development and the Council for EU Affairs of the German Bundestag experts were invited to offer their advice on options for the future development of the European Strategy for Sustainable Development. Rainer Quitzow from the Freie Universität Berlin presented findings from a comparative study on national and regional strategies for sustainable development. The presentation highlighted the need for further strengthening impact assessment of policies and programs. This was received with considerable interests by the members of parliament, as the Council is responsible for the review of Sustainability Impact Assessments by the German Parliament.