The adoption of the Declaration on the inauguration of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly by consensus officially completed the process of institutionalizing the parliamentary cooperation of the 12 SEECP member states.
The meeting was attended by the parliamentary speakers and deputy speakers from all the countries of the SEE region, except for Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The participants were addressed by the Romanian Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Administration and Interior Gabriel Oprea and SEECP Chair and Minister of Foreign Affairs Titus Corlatean, as well as the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, as representative of the parliamentary dimension of the EU Council presidency, Evangelos Vasileios Meimarakis.
Deputy Speaker Veroljub Arsic spoke on the “Future role of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly within the European framework” and on the occasion stressed that the foundation of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly is a historic moment for the region since it would serve as a “voice of the region” and contribute to better neighbourly relations, stability, security and cooperation among the twelve countries. Deputy Speaker Arsic reminded that the SEE region takes part in many multilateral initiatives ranging from general policy to sector-type cooperation. But there is still ample room for further joint activities in priority spheres such as economic and social development, energy and infrastructure, judiciary and internal affairs, security and human resource development. It is important to work with the governments in order to identify projects of common interest for the states in the region and create room for their realisation by programming multiuser components of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). Finally, Deputy Speaker Arsic restated that one of the Parliamentary Assembly’s most important roles is to contribute to better coordination between the EU and the SEE region by cooperating with the European Parliament and European Union institutions and exchanging experiences with EU members states on a great many questions relating to the EU enlargement agenda and regional cooperation, as well as with other parliamentary forums and institutions in Europe.
The participants also decided to set up an ad hoc Working Group which would continue to deliberate on the open issues – the secretariat and budget, and they also adopted the Rules of Procedure and 2014-2015 Annual Activity Plan. The inauguration of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly also officially ended the chairmanship of the Romanian Parliament which was passed on to the Albanian Parliament for the next year.
Click here to view the Declaration on the inauguration of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly.