Warsaw hosted for the third time the Summit of Presidents of Parliaments of Central and Eastern European countries initiated by Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchcinski. - The Europe of the free and equal. Our Europe. Almost the smallest continent on Earth. And at the same time the continent with the largest number of states and nations. An eloquent symbol of what freedom and democracy mean to us is tomorrow's celebration of the 550th anniversary of parliamentarism on the lands of the Republic - the Res Publika, from across: Vistula, Niemen, Dvina and Dnieper," said Sejm Speaker Marek Kuchcinski, opening the discussion.
The Summit was attended by delegations from more than 20 countries, which, according to the Speaker of the combine issues of principle related to security, development of infrastructure and energy connections, communications, migration, sustainable development, demographic policy, ecology or social programs. - The European Union, its state and condition is a pan-European issue, but at the same time Europe also exists outside the Union. That is why the parliamentary summit project was created, so that in one forum representatives of countries that are members of the Union, aspiring countries and countries outside the Union would exchange views and present proposals. We believe that our summits are a kind of missing link between these diverse entities - in our part of Europe, just as they are in the Mediterranean. We wish to contribute to European security through these meetings, guided by the conviction of the indivisibility of security regardless of the status of each state - Speaker Kuchcinski said.
The Speaker emphasized the special role of parliamentary diplomacy. - This new form of international communication goes beyond the traditional areas of our work related to legislation or executive control, he said. He argued that the most important thing is that we are united by the conviction that we need to develop diplomatic relations between, because the existing ones are far too little. Parliaments, as institutions that best express the will of their peoples and societies, have a unique role to play in this regard. He cited the V4 as a good example, where Poland, together with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, is conducting effective cooperation within the Visegrad Group. - Parliamentes have joined in this cooperation. We have developed a broad program in V4 to develop social, cultural, economic infrastructure, involving civic activity in these activities. We assess that many of our activities are of an initiating nature, they are then taken up by the entire region, subregions and communities," he said.
To further improve cooperation, a structure in the form of the Secretariat for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of Central and Eastern Europe, an analytical and organizational unit, has been established in the Sejm to carry out substantive and organizational cooperation in the region.
Summing up the session, the Speaker of the Sejm argued that once again it turned out that the countries present at the summit definitely have more in common than divides them.
Thank you also for Macedonia's voice about the need to continue and activate parliamentary diplomacy. And for emphasizing its role at a time of erosion of international law and change in the architecture of the world order (as mentioned by Senator Makushev - Kazakhstan). Mr. Chairman Hristov (Bulgaria) spoke about the importance of the dimension of parliamentary cooperation with the EU. Chairwoman Gojković (Serbia) and MP Sioropulu (Greece) raised the importance of coordination on the migration crisis.
On the other hand, Albania's voice in favor of combating poverty is fully in line with our concept of sustainable development. In order to be able to provide it, this topic should be taken up more actively at the level of parliamentary branch committees, which can at the same time give a new dynamic to inter-parliamentary relations in the region.
The fact that there is no properly functioning cooperation ecosystem without parliamentary assemblies such as our meeting today and the importance of cooperation in the Mediterranean was mentioned by President Farujia (Malta). Thank you for your offers to share your experiences from this model of cooperation.
In official statements and behind-the-scenes discussions, we received support for the continued holding of the Warsaw summits. Mr. President Farugia from Malta put this issue very strongly. Thank you for this important voice. But the idea of deepening parliamentary cooperation in such a way that these are not only summits of Presidents, but annual summits of parliamentary delegations of Central and Eastern Europe is also emerging. If we get the support of our distinguished guests, we would already be ready to organize the 2019 Summit in an expanded formula. Of course, other proposals, i.e.: the Joint Secretariat and the meeting in Krynica, remain in force -. concluded the Speaker of the Sejm.
