Panel One: "Countering the New Security Challenges"
Rapporteurs:
H.E. Andriy PARUBIY, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
H.E. Irakli KOBAKHIDZE, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia
H.E. Andrian CANDU, Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova
Mr. Ryszard TERLECKI, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, Republic of Poland
Dr. Michael CARPENTER, Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center, Future Europe Initiative and Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council
Ms. Ana GOMES, Member of the European Parliament (Portugal), Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance
Moderated by: H.E. Pat COX, President of the European Parliament (2002-2004)
Pat Cox In his opening address, Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament
(2002-2004), the panel’s moderator, remarked upon that all the three countries –
Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine – suffered from Russia’s aggression. "There are frozen conflicts, there are localized
conflicts. If you take the Minsk
process, there is the Donbas, the annexation of the Crimea. So, this is a question of black art, of propaganda
and manipulation. All of this is there, and it leads to security problems. There
are attempts to undermine the democratic process and its foundations. In
addition, there are problems with mass displacement and immigration. We also see the problems of extremism and
radicalization reshaping a society itself as well as the outside of the
society. The traditional confines
between internal and external security have already been erased. Hence, the way
it has been seen earlier seems unfitting for today, because the process is in
continual motion. This is to bring other tools for shaping diplomacy, relations
between countries, as the existing borders and delimitations seem to be
erasable. And we ought to learn from each other," said Pat Cox. Andriy Parubiy The Speaker of the
Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy spoke before the panel audience. "When we talk about
security in the today's world, we mean a much wider dimension than just a military
security, we should think much broader than we used to do when scrutinizing the
word "security". This is actually
a global confrontation," he stressed. “Current
developments in eastern Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are not just a confrontation
between Ukraine and Russia, or Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova against the Russian
aggression. This is a watershed divide
between two worlds - the world of democracy, dignity and freedom, and the world
of authoritarianism and totalitarianism, which today’s Russia of Putin embodies.
Therefore, any little step we take towards transformation of our countries into
democratic countries, into civilized countries, into European countries might
be thought to be pertaining to the realm of security" remarked A.Parubiy. The Chairman of the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine informed the panel participants of signing the Law of
Ukraine "On Supreme Anticorruption Court", which would immediately be
tabled up to the President of Ukraine. He also pointed out that another method of Russia’s
aggression, another way of
blackmailing the entire
civilized world, was the Nord
Stream 2 gas pipeline. He expressed his deep regret
that European politicians did not realise the
problem. "However, this
is well-understood by us, by our states, who have already felt the energy
blackmailing of Russia. We are clear on realizing
this issue is not of just economy, the Nord Stream 2 project is far beyond, it
is purely a political aggressive project of Russia", he then emphasized. In his speech, the
Chairman highlighted that the issue of military security remained to be among the
most important for Ukraine. In this respect, he then said the next plenary week’s
agenda of the Verkhovna Rada would see the law of Ukraine on national security
and defence, which seemed to be quite a large scale and holistic instrument in
its coverage. Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia,
Andrian Candu, Chairman of the
Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, Ryszard Terlecki, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, Republic of Poland, Dr. Michael Carpenter,
Senior Fellow, Eurasia Center, Future Europe Initiative and Scowcroft Center
for Strategy and Security, Atlantic Council, Ana Gomes, Member of the European
Parliament, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in
the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of Special Committee on Financial Crimes,
Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance, also delivered their panel reports.