The Inauguration of the 16th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Was Held in The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Tuesday, 5 July
The representatives of the 51 national parliaments from the 56 OSCE participating States attend the Annual Session.
At the beginning of the meeting the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Goran Lennmarker gave the floor to the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko.
The President of Ukraine congratulated the parliament members on the beginning of work of the Annual Session. "We consider your presence as the recognition of our democratic tendencies. Ukraine will not deviate from democratic reforms," emphasized Viktor Yushchenko.
The Head of Ukrainian State pointed out that Ukraine supports European parliamentarism.
In his speech V. Yushchenko informed the parliament members in detail about the political situation in Ukraine, parliamentary crisis, permanent violations of the Constitution. He considers the corruption in the political circles to be the reason for the current situation. According to his words, the early parliamentary election on 30 September is the only way out of this crisis.
After the early election "the political forces with different principles of work will enter the session hall. The dialogue will return to the hall, as well as the atmosphere of discussion process concerning any vital issues that form a nationwide discussion," ensured V. Yushchenko.
The President of Ukraine announced his intention to initiate the abolition of the immunity of deputies, because "such a regulation impedes the elimination of the illegal procedures and corruption."
"In Parliament they should create laws, not evade them. I insist on limiting the present absolute immunity of the deputies to the precise standards adopted by the majority of European countries," said V. Yushchenko.
He also emphasized that the early election will be held in complete accordance with the national and international standards.
V. Yushchenko also stressed that he will guarantee the development of political processes in Ukraine in the lawful course, and Ukraine "will never deviate from the democracy".
The President of Ukraine invited the OSCE representatives to be the observers on the early parliamentary election in Ukraine on 30 September 2007.
After the President´s speech, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Goran Lennmarker announced that the OSCE will send its observers to the early election in Ukraine.
G. Lennmarker accosted the participants with the opening address. He greeted all the participants of the 16th Annual Session and officially opened it.
The OSCE President expressed his gratitude to the leaders of Ukrainian Parliament for the granted opportunity to hold the Session in The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
G. Lennmarker drew attention to the important role of Ukraine in Europe and reminded of its history: the wars conducted on its territory, the famishment and the oppression. "Nowadays Ukraine is an independent and democratic country that follows the way of freedom and prosperity." he said.
G. Lennmarker further emphasized on the importance of the OSCE and also expressed his certainty of the increase of its role.
The Speaker of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olexandr Moroz delivered a speech to the participants of the 16th OSCE Annual Session. He said that " holding of the Session is the evidence of respect towards Ukraine, the role of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the development of democratic institutes, in the consolidation of the principles concerning rule of law and observing human rights."
"Ukraine highly appreciates the activity of the OSCE, and regards its actions as the good opportunities for discussion and solution of the problems concerning European security framework," - he emphasized.
According to O. Moroz, the intensification of the interparliamentary cooperation is an important aspect of preserving peace and stability within the scope of the OSCE; it is the driving force of integration processes, including those in Ukraine, towards a common European home.
The Speaker of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine commented on the active role of the Organization, and its Parliamentary Assembly in particular, in securing the democratic election process. He reminded that during the election in Ukraine in 2004 and 2006 the delegation of the OSCE observers was one of the largest, and this contributed to the impartiality and democracy of the election process.
O. Moroz drew further attention to the current political situation in Ukraine that affirms the complicated process of development of democratic social order in Ukraine. He emphasized on the task for representatives of the political forces of Ukraine: to secure the truly effective mechanism of authority distribution, the improvement of the national legislation according to high European standards.
The Speaker of The Verkhovna Rada also marked that Ukraine appreciates the participation in the OSCE and in the Parliamentary Assembly for not only absolute advantages from the implementation of the main tasks of the Organization, but also for the common foreign and security policy and the opportunity to implement the aims of our State concerning EU integration.
At the end of his speech, O. Moroz commented on the anticonstitutional offensive on parliamentarism, democracy, European ideals and values conducted on the part of the Institute of the President at present in Ukraine. Furthermore, according to his speech, this situation does not at least partially correspond with the President´s words. He has emphasized that "these problems are internal and we will solve them by ourselves."
O. Moroz wished successful work and productive discussions to all the participants and guests of the Session.
After that the Speaker gave the floor to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The Chairman-in-Office emphasized that since the establishment the OSCE has been a platform for expressing ideas, discussing concepts, offering suggestions and for the support of democratic impulses within the OSCE framework.
As a Chairman-in-Office, A. Moratinos assumed the responsibility for all the OSCE participating States.
In his speech A. Moratinos dwelled on the issue of the OSCE intensification of searching the ways to resolve the local conflicts in the former USSR.
The OSCE Chairman expressed his expectations that in September the election will be held in Ukraine, "so that Ukraine will have legitimate and democratic Government in the future." The OSCE Chairman stated that Europe is in need of stable and democratic Ukraine.
M. Moratinos called for the coordination of programs and joint actions and for the structural extension of the Organization.
The OSCE Chairman-in-Office answered the questions of parliament members concerning the situation in Kosovo, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In particular, answering the questions of the Parliament Speaker of Georgia N. Burjanadze concerning the actions of the OSCE towards the so-called frozen conflicts, M. Moratinos confirmed the concern of the OSCE about the situation in the South Ossetia and sending the special representative there in the nearest time.
After a break in the plenary meeting the participants of the Session listened to a report of Tone Tingsgard, the Special OSCE Representative on gender issues. She drew attention to the statistics of the OSCE governmental bodies that did not change in the OSCE countries. According to it, women are poorly represented on the high posts and governmental positions.
The speaker expressed regret at the elimination of the women´s representation issue from the agenda of the OSCE Session. She marked that the implementation is the principle issue. Therefore, the Parliamentary Assembly has to and is really able to change the situation.
The speaker called for more active participation of women in the Parliamentary Assembly.
While discussing the speech, the participants of the session spoke on the subject. In particular, the representative of the parliamentary delegation of Serbia suggested calling the Parliamentary Assembly and the OSCE in the whole the main advocate of a person and a woman in the society.
Speaking on the situation in Ukraine, the representative of the parliamentary delegation of Ukraine Kateryna Levchenko announced that the basic reasons for gender discrimination in the country are the following: violence in the family, human traffic, discrimination on the labour-market.
K. Levchenko suggested that the Parliamentary Assembly should support the idea concerning the establishment of the institute of the national coordinators on gender equality on the national level or national speakers on gender equality issues.
Summing up the discussion, Tone Tingsgard, the Special OSCE Representative on gender issues, was not certain of reaching the condition of everyone´s unanimous support of the stated suggestions. She remarked that the Parliamentary Assembly should return to this issue in case the positive changes do not occur in the Organization.
Afterwards the parliament members considered the additional issue "On the Role of the Parliamentary Assembly". The speaker on this matter, the representative of the parliamentary delegation of Germany Hans Ruydel insisted on the extended authority of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in the adoption process. According to his words, there should be closer cooperation during the implementation of such decisions, the possibility to do that via parliaments, special bodies, and the OSCE itself. The cooperation between the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly and the executive authority is vitally important.
H. Ruydel called for the greater importance of the Parliamentary Assembly in the future.
During the discussion the parliament members expressed their opinions concerning the issue. On the whole they supported the speaker, the suggested draft resolution and uttered their opinions on the certain items of the draft resolution. They supported the adoption of the draft resolution as a basis.
The participants of the meeting considered the amendments in the draft. The first five paragraphs of the draft did not provoke any objections. The sixth paragraph was adopted with the amendment. The other paragraphs were adopted with partially considered amendments.
The Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Resolution "The Role and Status of the Parliamentary Assembly in the Structure of the OSCE" with added paragraphs.
After that the participants of the Session listened to the report on the security in the Black Sea basin by Nino Burjanadze, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, and the report on the enhancement of democracy in Afghanistan by Mohammed Yahub, the representative of the delegation of Afghanistan.
At the end of the plenary meeting the Chairman reminded that the discussion of issues will be continued on the plenary session on Sunday, 8 June. He also reminded of the final date for submitting applications of the candidates for the positions of the President, the Vice-President and the Treasurer of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The plenary meeting was closed.