8th Ordinary Session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly held in Tbilisi
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Tuesday, December 10
The 8th Ordinary Session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly takes place in Tbilisi, Georgia from Sunday, 8 December 2019 to Tuesday, 10 December 2019. The Assembly is comprised of 60 MEPs and 10 members from each of the participating parliaments of the Eastern European partners (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine).
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze opened the session on 9 December. The meetings will be co-chaired by MEP Andrius Kubilius (EPP, LT) and Ivan Krulko, member of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament). European Parliament President David Sassoli was also represented in Tbilisi by Vice-President Klara Dobrev (S&D, HU).
The opening session was preceded by several meetings of the different Euronest committees and working groups, focussing on a wide range of subjects.
Participants discussed resolutions on political affairs, economic integration, energy security and social matters. As 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, members also reflected on the future of this policy, in the run-up to the next Eastern Partnership Summit scheduled to take place in the spring of 2020.
Lithuanian MEP, Andrius Kubilius talked with the reporters in Tbilisi about ongoing events in Georgia and openly said that proportional system would greatly balance the election results, which is very important.
“As you can see, in the Eastern Partnership countries there is a certain phenomenon of mono-majority, super-majority creation. On the one hand, it helps to make some reforms, but on the other hand, in the case of such a majority, there is a temptation to use it for undemocratic purposes,” said Kubilius.
He also noted that some people are under pressure from the authorities after the June 20-21 rallies. “We have a list of 87 people detained or prosecuted during demonstrations by the authorities for their activism,” said Kubilius.
As another Lithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius said, “we appreciate the voice of the united opposition and call on the authorities to be responsible and open for cooperation.”
The Association Agreement Working Group held the meeting within the sessions. The attendees of the meeting of the representatives of the EUAA states – Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova heard the conducted activity and discussed the plans. The attendees expressed the initiative of establishment of new cooperation format for these three countries. The initiative was approved.
“Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia submitted the reports at the meeting, and we discussed our achievements. Besides, we discussed a very important initiative envisaging development of new cooperation format for the three countries with the higher progress to value the achievement thereof in reforming of European standards,” noted Roman Kakulia, the Chair of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee.
The Euronest PA was established on 3 May 2011 in Brussels, when the Presidents (or their representatives) of the Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Moldovan, Ukrainian and European Parliaments signed the Assembly's Constitutive Act.
The mission of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is to promote the conditions necessary to accelerate political association and further economic integration between the EU and the Eastern European Partners, as well as to strengthen cooperation within the region and between the region and the EU. The multilateral Assembly contributes to strengthening, developing and making the Eastern Partnership visible.
