The 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference BSPC âSustainable ...
Check against spoken word Jørgen Kosmo, President of the Norwegian Storting
The 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference BSPC “Sustainable Development – Shared concerns and responsibilities in the Baltic Sea Region” Bergen 29-31 August 2004
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to Bergen. On behalf of the Norwegian Storting I hereby open the 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. Why would we hold a conference on cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region here in Bergen? Because of the history of this city. From around the year 1300 and for centuries after, Bergen was a trade centre of European significance. The city had between 5 and 10,000 inhabitants and was clearly the largest and most important city in the country. It was a medium-sized city even by European standards. During the summer months, the Bergen Harbour was filled with vessels from the areas around the North Sea and the Baltic as well as from the entire Kingdom of Norway including the Norse island communities westward. Around 1360, Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, was founded as a Hansa ”office” like Novgorod, Brügge and London. The Lübeck merchants were to dominate Bryggen for nearly 400 years. Stockfish exports and grain imports formed the principal basis of their business activities. The stockfish was produced in North Norway as the chief Norwegian export. Stockfish was in great demand during Lent in the Catholic countries of Europe. Norway for its part depended on grain imports from England and the Baltic countries. Bryggen was a ”port of transhipment” in this barter. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, Bergen was among the most important Hansa Cities, possibly the most important. And today the city is a member of the UBC : Union of Baltic Cities.
Chairman, The current cooperation in the Baltic Sea Area is broadly based. The areas of focus include democratic development, economic integration and development, education, environmental and energy issues, nuclear safety, secure living conditions, combating the spread of communicable disease and fighting organized crime.
Norway’s commitment to the Baltic Sea Cooperation is a crucial part of Norway’s adjacent area policy. We value this work because it is seen as an important forum to promote cooperation between Russia and its Western neighbours. After the EU enlargement in the spring of 2004, eight of the member countries of the Council of the Baltic Sea States have become members of the EU. In the meeting of the heads of government in Estonia in June, somewhat divergent opinions were aired concerning the implications of the enlargement for the role and significance of the Council in years to come. It is my understanding that the Polish Presidency has placed the future role and function of the Council as a priority subject on the agenda, and is aiming to produce a new draft mandate for the Council before the meeting of foreign ministers in Poland next spring. I look forward to hearing the Polish Foreign minister’s speech on the ideas that prevail on the government side. As parliamentarians, we also need to consider how to organize our parliamentary cooperation. I note that last year’s Baltic Sea Conference asked the Standing Committee in the final act to strengthen the parliamentary conferences to make them the parliamentary dimension of the CBSS. Allow me to repeat part of the story: On the initiative of the Finnish Parliamentary President (Kalevi Sorsa), the first conference was held in Helsinki in 1991. Norway followed up the initiative and organized the 2nd conference together with the Nordic Council in Oslo in 1992. The Oslo conference adopted the formal basis for further parliamentary cooperation (Mandate for parliamentary Conferences for Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Area). The third conference in Warszaw in 1994 laid the foundations for the structure we have today, where a Standing Committee prepares the annual conferences, the secretariat function being at the Nordic Council secretariat in Copenhagen. Our parliamentary cooperation in the present-day situation must allow for the EU and NATO enlargements. We must of course ensure that the various cooperational fora active today avoid dual work by creating the conditions for increased cooperation and information exchange between the various structures of cooperation. In this situation, I feel we are called upon to think along new lines. We need to be flexible and embrace change. The parlamentarian Baltic Sea Conferences and the Standing Parliamentarian Committee do valuable work by directing attention towards specific issues and by acting as a driving force vis à vis governments and their partner constellations such as the CBSS, the Barents Council, The Arctic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. This is important also in relation to the Northern Dimension of the EU. We parliamentarians have the excellent Baltic Sea Cooperation, we have an Arctic parliamentarian cooperation looking after the transatlantic connections in particular,
we have a network of Barents parliamentarians involving North West Russian parliamentarians and the Nordic Council, and of course, there is the Nordic Council whose core activity will always be parliamentary cooperation between the Nordic countries. In my view, we should streamline and coordinate our parliamentary activities for Northern Europe. What we need is a “Parliamentarian partnership for Northern Europe” as an overreaching structure for our geographical area, to be a source of inspiration and a driving force vis à vis our governments and the EU Commission. This partnership should meet for conferences annually or biannually. A Standing Committee of parliamentarians should prepare the conferences. The foreign ministers would be our opposite number on the government side. They are meeting already in the CBSS, the Barents Council and the Arctic Council. We already have the tool: The Baltic Sea conferences and the Standing Committee of parliamentarians. Some adjustments are required. The geographical area needs to be enlarged, the European Parliament must take part, and the parliament of every country must be represented in the Standing Committee of parliamentarians. The participation of the Nordic parliaments can most easily be coordinated through the Nordic Council. It is important that all the national parliaments have similar views on the need for parliamentary cooperation in Northern Europe. Acting jointly as parliamentarians in a broader forum would strengthen cooperation both for the Baltic Sea and the Barents Region, whilst sending the message to the rest of Europe that our North European countries stand united for sustainable economic development, good democratic governance and environmental protection. It is my intention , having conferred with my Nordic Parliamentary President colleagues, to inform the parliamentary presidents of the remaining six countries about these thoughts and ideas in a broader parliamentary forum.
I was pleased to note that Lithuania wishes to host the next Baltic Sea conference. Given its history and geographical location, Lithuania is well poised to organize the first conference for parliamentary partnership in Northern Europe.
In connection with Nordic Council’s committee meetings to be held in Bodø, Norway in late June next year, the Storting and Nordic Council will host a Barents parlamentarians’ meeting with participants from the Nordic countries, Russia and the European Parliament after the meetings of the Council. I will invite the Standing Committee of parliamentarians of the Baltic Sea conference to take part in this meeting of parliamentarians. In future I expect that a ”parliamentary partnership in Northern Europe” will cover the need for this type of Barents meetings. I know that the regional parliament in Northern Germany and Poland have formed a partnership pattern. Similarly, in the North we have the Barents Regional Council I am sure that connections may be set up between these bodies and conferences of parliamentarians. I wish you every success with this conference!
The 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference BSPC “Sustainable Development – Shared concerns and responsibilities in the Baltic Sea Region” Bergen 29-31 August 2004
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to Bergen. On behalf of the Norwegian Storting I hereby open the 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. Why would we hold a conference on cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region here in Bergen? Because of the history of this city. From around the year 1300 and for centuries after, Bergen was a trade centre of European significance. The city had between 5 and 10,000 inhabitants and was clearly the largest and most important city in the country. It was a medium-sized city even by European standards. During the summer months, the Bergen Harbour was filled with vessels from the areas around the North Sea and the Baltic as well as from the entire Kingdom of Norway including the Norse island communities westward. Around 1360, Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, was founded as a Hansa ”office” like Novgorod, Brügge and London. The Lübeck merchants were to dominate Bryggen for nearly 400 years. Stockfish exports and grain imports formed the principal basis of their business activities. The stockfish was produced in North Norway as the chief Norwegian export. Stockfish was in great demand during Lent in the Catholic countries of Europe. Norway for its part depended on grain imports from England and the Baltic countries. Bryggen was a ”port of transhipment” in this barter. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, Bergen was among the most important Hansa Cities, possibly the most important. And today the city is a member of the UBC : Union of Baltic Cities.
Chairman, The current cooperation in the Baltic Sea Area is broadly based. The areas of focus include democratic development, economic integration and development, education, environmental and energy issues, nuclear safety, secure living conditions, combating the spread of communicable disease and fighting organized crime.
Norway’s commitment to the Baltic Sea Cooperation is a crucial part of Norway’s adjacent area policy. We value this work because it is seen as an important forum to promote cooperation between Russia and its Western neighbours. After the EU enlargement in the spring of 2004, eight of the member countries of the Council of the Baltic Sea States have become members of the EU. In the meeting of the heads of government in Estonia in June, somewhat divergent opinions were aired concerning the implications of the enlargement for the role and significance of the Council in years to come. It is my understanding that the Polish Presidency has placed the future role and function of the Council as a priority subject on the agenda, and is aiming to produce a new draft mandate for the Council before the meeting of foreign ministers in Poland next spring. I look forward to hearing the Polish Foreign minister’s speech on the ideas that prevail on the government side. As parliamentarians, we also need to consider how to organize our parliamentary cooperation. I note that last year’s Baltic Sea Conference asked the Standing Committee in the final act to strengthen the parliamentary conferences to make them the parliamentary dimension of the CBSS. Allow me to repeat part of the story: On the initiative of the Finnish Parliamentary President (Kalevi Sorsa), the first conference was held in Helsinki in 1991. Norway followed up the initiative and organized the 2nd conference together with the Nordic Council in Oslo in 1992. The Oslo conference adopted the formal basis for further parliamentary cooperation (Mandate for parliamentary Conferences for Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Area). The third conference in Warszaw in 1994 laid the foundations for the structure we have today, where a Standing Committee prepares the annual conferences, the secretariat function being at the Nordic Council secretariat in Copenhagen. Our parliamentary cooperation in the present-day situation must allow for the EU and NATO enlargements. We must of course ensure that the various cooperational fora active today avoid dual work by creating the conditions for increased cooperation and information exchange between the various structures of cooperation. In this situation, I feel we are called upon to think along new lines. We need to be flexible and embrace change. The parlamentarian Baltic Sea Conferences and the Standing Parliamentarian Committee do valuable work by directing attention towards specific issues and by acting as a driving force vis à vis governments and their partner constellations such as the CBSS, the Barents Council, The Arctic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. This is important also in relation to the Northern Dimension of the EU. We parliamentarians have the excellent Baltic Sea Cooperation, we have an Arctic parliamentarian cooperation looking after the transatlantic connections in particular,
we have a network of Barents parliamentarians involving North West Russian parliamentarians and the Nordic Council, and of course, there is the Nordic Council whose core activity will always be parliamentary cooperation between the Nordic countries. In my view, we should streamline and coordinate our parliamentary activities for Northern Europe. What we need is a “Parliamentarian partnership for Northern Europe” as an overreaching structure for our geographical area, to be a source of inspiration and a driving force vis à vis our governments and the EU Commission. This partnership should meet for conferences annually or biannually. A Standing Committee of parliamentarians should prepare the conferences. The foreign ministers would be our opposite number on the government side. They are meeting already in the CBSS, the Barents Council and the Arctic Council. We already have the tool: The Baltic Sea conferences and the Standing Committee of parliamentarians. Some adjustments are required. The geographical area needs to be enlarged, the European Parliament must take part, and the parliament of every country must be represented in the Standing Committee of parliamentarians. The participation of the Nordic parliaments can most easily be coordinated through the Nordic Council. It is important that all the national parliaments have similar views on the need for parliamentary cooperation in Northern Europe. Acting jointly as parliamentarians in a broader forum would strengthen cooperation both for the Baltic Sea and the Barents Region, whilst sending the message to the rest of Europe that our North European countries stand united for sustainable economic development, good democratic governance and environmental protection. It is my intention , having conferred with my Nordic Parliamentary President colleagues, to inform the parliamentary presidents of the remaining six countries about these thoughts and ideas in a broader parliamentary forum.
I was pleased to note that Lithuania wishes to host the next Baltic Sea conference. Given its history and geographical location, Lithuania is well poised to organize the first conference for parliamentary partnership in Northern Europe.
In connection with Nordic Council’s committee meetings to be held in Bodø, Norway in late June next year, the Storting and Nordic Council will host a Barents parlamentarians’ meeting with participants from the Nordic countries, Russia and the European Parliament after the meetings of the Council. I will invite the Standing Committee of parliamentarians of the Baltic Sea conference to take part in this meeting of parliamentarians. In future I expect that a ”parliamentary partnership in Northern Europe” will cover the need for this type of Barents meetings. I know that the regional parliament in Northern Germany and Poland have formed a partnership pattern. Similarly, in the North we have the Barents Regional Council I am sure that connections may be set up between these bodies and conferences of parliamentarians. I wish you every success with this conference!
