Borys Tarasiuk, Chairman of the European Integration Committee, held a Press Conference further to the Inaugural Meeting of the EU Eastern Partnership Assembly (EURONEST PA)
05 May 2011, 16:00
Inaugural
Meeting of the EU Eastern Partnership Assembly (Euronest PA) was held in the European Parliament in
Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium) on May 3, 2011.
Borys Tarasiuk, Head of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Delegation in the Euronest PA, stressed that on behalf of Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Volodymyr Lytvyn, he signed the constitutive act of a new organization. This act founds a new parliamentary component of cooperation between the European Union and partner states of the Eastern Partnership, i.e. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. B.Tarasiuk stated that as the European Parliament does not recognize the authorities of the Belarusian Parliament as such that was elected with the violation of principles of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, there was a lasting discussion concerning participation of Belarus in the Parliamentary Assembly. Ten places were reserved for the Belarusian delegation, which implies that they are welcome as participants of the Eastern Partnership PA. Belarus holds ten standby places for its full-fledged participation after the discharge of political prisoners arrested after the events of December 19, 2010, and holding of the coming democratic parliamentary elections in the Republic.
B.Tarasiuk attaches great importance to the fact that the Constitutive Act of the Parliamentary Assembly reads that the Eastern European states are subject to clause 49 of the Treaty on the European Union, which sets the terms for acquiring EU membership.
The Committee Chairman also informed about the standing rules ratified at the sitting, which set the procedure of electing the governing bodies of the Eastern Partnership PA, and the procedure of their work.
During the Inaugural Meeting, Euronest PA Bureau was appointed, two co-presidents and eight vice-presidents, co-chairmen and deputy co-chairmen of the committees and working groups of the organization were elected.
Borys Tarasiuk, Chairman of the European Integration Committee, Head of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Delegation in the EU Eastern Partnership Assembly (Euronest PA), was unanimously elected Co-President from the Eastern Partnership Countries.
Kristian Vigenin, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation, was elected co-president from the EU.
The attendants of the sitting also elected the heads of four main committees of the Assembly, each of which includes 30 deputies (15 from the European Parliament, 15 from the representatives of the parliaments of the Eastern Partnership partner states). The following committees were established: the Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and
Democracy, the Committee on Economic Integration, Legal Approximation and Convergence with EU Policies, the Committee on Energy Security, and the Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society.
The Parliamentary Assembly also set up two interim working groups: on Belarus and on standing orders.
The Head of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Delegation stressed that for Ukraine, Euronest PA can become an extra tool for strengthening bilateral relations and facilitating lifting of visas in the nearest future. Activity of Euronest PA will foster the dialogue and tackle the issues facing the European Community in general and every partner-state in particular, as well as consolidate the role of Europe as a global player.
B.Tarasiuk also reminded that in May 2009, the Committee on the European Integration initiated meeting of the heads of subject committees on European integration. Further to the meeting held in Kyiv on May 19, 2009, representatives of the national parliaments ratified the recommendations for the participation in the coming Parliamentary Assembly that lay the foundation of the constitutive acts.
"To say the least of it, Ukraine made a significant contribution, ensuring that both national parliaments of the Eastern Partnership and the European Parliament supported the Ukrainian candidate nominated for the leadership of the Parliamentary Assembly," stressed B.Tarasiuk.
B.Tarasiuk also thanked the delegated who attended the sitting - People´s Deputies of Ukraine A.Boliura, O.Zarubinskyi, R.Zvarych, V.Kravchuk, S.Kurpil, Yu.Kovalevska, V.Lukianov and Yu.Karakai.
He also expressed his gratitude to the members of the secretariats of the European Integration Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee for their contribution into organization of the sitting.