MOLDOVAN PRESIDENCY
2008
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE PARLIAMENTARY
DIMENSION OF THE CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE
Chisinau, 18 November 2008
FINAL DOCUMENT
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European Initiative held its annual meeting in Chisinau on 18 November 2008. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Valeriu Guma, Head of the Moldovan Parliamentary Delegation to the Central European Initiative, representing the Moldovan CEI Presidency.
The meeting was attended by national delegations representing the parliaments of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the CEI Executive Secretariat.
The meeting was addressed by H.E. Mr. Marian Lupu – Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Valeriu Guma – Head of the Moldovan Delegation to the CEI PD; Mr. Bogdan Pascu - Head of the Romanian Delegation to the CEI PD, Chamber of Deputies; Mr. Mykola Melenevsky – Deputy Secretary General of the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative; Mr. Kalman Mizsei – EU Special Representative for the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Vlad Cubreacov - Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and European Integration of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Dumitru Ţîra - Chairman of the Committee of National Coordinators of CEI, Head of the Department for Regional Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Péter Sárdi – component leader in the Twinning Project, State Secretary, Head of Office for Foreign Relations, Hungarian National Assembly; Mr. Igor Boţan – Executive Director, Association for Participatory Democracy, Republic of Moldova.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Central European Initiative
reiterating the main CEI objective of building a new Europe, without dividing lines, and including all states of the Continent into a single area of political, economic and cultural development,
considering the increasing scope of common interests for cooperation among the CEI Member States,
acknowledging the positive consequences of the EU enlargement process for stability, economic growth and sustainable development in the entire CEI region,
expressing its conviction that a clear European perspective offered to the CEI non-EU Member States is a powerful incentive for accelerating structural reforms necessary for a closer relation with the EU,
underlying the importance of better coordination with other regional actors, avoiding overlapping and making full use of all the instruments of regional cohesion and solidarity,
having regard to the previous documents adopted by the CEI Parliamentary Dimension,
taking into account the upcoming CEI Heads of Government meeting,
- agreed that the entire region is moving forward on a path of democratization, political stability and economic progress,
- reaffirmed that the CEI, as a privileged regional forum for dialogue and cooperation, can make an important and concrete contribution to the consolidation of peace and stability on the European Continent,
- welcomed the growing recognition of the CEI regional ownership at European level,
- called to support the EU aspirations of the CEI non-EU member states in order to gradually bring together all the countries of the region as member states of the Union,
- stressed that the CEI parliamentary cooperation has its own important role in promoting democratic values and European standards at national and international levels, achieving sustainable economic growth, accelerating structural reforms, increasing stability, security and well-being for the entire region,
- supported the intention of Governments to further focus on the promotion of CEI-EU joint projects within European programmes, in particular involving both EU and non-EU CEI Member States related,
- stressed the significance of the CEI Co-operation Fund for strengthening ties among the CEI countries and supported planned increase of this Found in 2009 as well as encouraged National Governments to consider increasing their financial involvement into other CEI projects, in particular Know-how Exchange Programme and Special Fund for Climate and Environment Protection,
- welcomed the progress of the CEI non-EU Member States in the process of reforms aimed at achieving the EU standards,
- agreed that CEI PD will continue to support, within its mandate, the accession of EU aspirants among the CEI Member States,
- emphasized the need for further developing the partnership relations among the parliaments in the CEI region,
- noted with satisfaction the improved cooperation with the South East European Cooperation Process, Regional Cooperation Council and other regional actors,
- underlined the importance of the repositioning of the CEI and emphasized the need to institutionalize a Permanent Secretariat of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension, subjecting the creation of the Permanent Secretariat to the approval on the part of Parliaments and the willingness on the part of all member countries to support the funding of the project in line with their own specific capabilities,
- encouraged the Parliaments of the CEI EU Member States to take appropriate steps in order to upgrade CEI - EC relationship and to establish a permanent high-level dialogue between CEI and EC,
- took note of the annexed Resolution of the CEI-PD General Committee on Economic Affairs adopted by the members present at the voting during the Committee meeting in Prague, on 11 June 2008, chaired by Mr. Bogdan Pascu,
- agreed upon the growing importance of Education for Sustainable Development and called the CEI Member States to support all the initiatives aimed at the promotion of Education for Sustainable Development,
- expressed gratitude to the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova for the excellent organization of the events and warm hospitality offered during the Moldovan Presidency,
- extended best wishes to the forthcoming Romanian CEI Presidency.
Annex
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GENERAL COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AFFAIRS OF THE CEI - PARLIAMENTARY DIMENSION
Prague, 11-12 June 2008
RESOLUTION
The CEI-PD GCEA meeting about “The Future of Nuclear Energy in Europe” was held on June 11th -12th in Prague. The meeting was chaired by Bogdan Pascu, Chairperson of the General Committee on Economic Affairs. The topic of the meeting followed up on the GCEA meeting held on June 6th, 2007 in Minsk and also the GCEA programme discussion that took place on November 20th – 22nd, 2007 in Sofia.
The meeting was attended by members of national delegations representing the parliaments of Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine (Hungary was represented at the level of secretary). The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the CEI Executive Secretariat.
The meeting was addressed by Mr Přemysl Sobotka – President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Mr Tomáš Hüner – Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Mr Petr Krs – Deputy Chairman for Management and Technical Support of the State Office for Nuclear Safety, Czech Republic, Mr Vladimír Hlavinka – Member of Board of Directors and Chief Production Officer of ČEZ, a.s. (Czech Energetic Company), Mr Lubor Žežula – Project Manager, Nuclear Safety and Power Division of the Nuclear Research Institute Řež plc.
The CEI-PD General Committee on Economic Affairs
● is fully aware of the growing need of energy for further economic development of CEI member states. GDP growth is in general closely linked with increasing energy consumption. Responsible politicians should be able to forecast the growing need of energy as well as to ensure its production from environment friendly and realistic resources.
● does not overestimate the potential of renewable resources and registers quickly decreasing reserves of fossil fuels. One should rely neither on the import of energy nor on a discovery of a new miraculous energy resource. It is thus necessary that nuclear energy, which has positive impact on the environment and diversifying effect on energy suppliers, is incorporated in the energy mix.
● recognizes the right of each state to develop peaceful nuclear energy in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
● appeals to CEI member states to inform general public about the nuclear energy production, including the safety and security of nuclear power plants, on the basis of technical arguments, scientific findings, in the context of the whole energy policy and including the experience from Chernobyl accident.
● encourages CEI member states to support education and training of nuclear energy experts and proposes that CEI member states evaluate the possibility to create a special fund for training nuclear plants personnel. Due to the urgency of the problem GCEA proposes to organize an expert conference on the development, construction and safety of nuclear power plants.
● recognizing that the irradiated fuel, its potential use and final disposal as well as the possible proliferation are all matters of serious concern, appeals to the CEI member states to engage in common discussions in order to find the optimal solutions and to promote the highest standards of nuclear safety and security.
● proposes to non-EU member states to establish closer relations with EU in the field of nuclear energy.
Adopted unanimously in Prague, June 11, 2008.
Bogdan Pascu
Chairperson of the General Committee on Economic Affairs