MPs from 14 countries discuss Ukraine

24.11.14 | News
Hans Wallmark
Photographer
Johannes Jansson/norden.org
On Monday, members of the Nordic Council met with representatives from the Baltic Assembly, the Benelux Parliament and the Visegrád countries, as well as MPs from Georgia and Ukraine. On the agenda were the current situation in Ukraine and its regional and global ramifications. A range of measures were proposed to support democracy, security and stability in the country.

“The fact that representatives of 14 countries met like this shows just how serious the situation is. We all share concerns about Russia so flagrantly disregarding international agreements,” said Hans Wallmark, President of the Nordic Council.

Russia’s military presence in Ukraine, the country’s economic woes and high levels of corruption make the situation highly complex. Wallmark noted the interest in and demand for more meetings of this kind, at which MPs from different countries come together to share unbiased information.

“The Nordic Council made clear our willingness to put our experience at the disposal of reform work in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are particularly interested in the Baltic countries’ experiences of democratisation in the 1990s,” he pointed out.

In Wallmark’s view, the meeting shows that the European countries are prepared to stand by each other in times of crisis, which he considers an important preventative measure.

“As well as the Crimean issue in Ukraine, there are also institutional conflicts in Transnistria in Moldova and Abkhazia in Georgia. These are worrying developments. But as this meeting shows, people will find ways of coming together to support democracy,” he added.

The Nordic Council representatives were Hans Wallmark, Höskuldur Þórhallsson (Iceland – President of the Nordic Council in 2015) and Presidium members Michael Tetzschner (Norway), Kimmo Sasi (Finland) and Bertel Haarder (Denmark).