Nordic Council visits Ukraine

26.06.15 | News
Höskuldur Þórhallsson
Photographer
Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org
Politicians from the Nordic Council have taken part in several meetings with their counterparts from Southeast Europe during the first half of 2015, which culminated in a meeting at the Ukrainian Parliament on June 26. In addition to two politicians from the Nordic Council led by president Höskuldur Þórhallsson from Iceland, politicians from the Baltic Assembly, the Benelux Parliament, the Visegrad Group, Georgia, and host country Ukraine also took part.

The topic of the discussions was “Security in Europe: the current situation and lessons for policy makers”. The meeting was opened by the deputy speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Andriy Parubiy.

Earlier this spring, a number of Nordic and Baltic presidents visited the Ukrainian Parliament, although the most recent visit to Ukraine was for a wider group. This same group has met previously in Stockholm in the summer of 2014, in Riga in November 2014, and in Vilnius on 20 March 2015 when the Baltic Assembly hosted a seminar on Eastern Partnership. The meeting provided parliamentary input following the EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga in May during Latvia’s presidency of the EU.

Importance of strengthening democracies

“It’s important to support Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova in strengthening their democracies, which are being established during such difficult circumstances. A strong and sustainable democracy does not come about overnight, but a democracy that is deeply rooted is, without doubt, the best for a country’s residents in the long term. A society must be based on internal trust. This is why we have to demonstrate our support and solidarity,” Höskuldur Þórhallsson said to the Assembly. 

President Þórhallsson was invited to the Second Annual Balkan Forum on Regional Cooperation from 19 to 21 March in Thessaloniki, Greece. The president also took part at the PABSEC session of Black Sea politicians in Moldova in June. In May, the secretariat’s international adviser was a guest at another Southeast European session for SEECP, South-East European Cooperation Process, in Tirana, Albania. The contacts made at this session have been useful in relation to the most recent  visit to Ukraine.

Nordic Council’s condemnation of violations of international humanitarian law

Russia’s annexation of Crimea resulted in a Nordic Council theme session in Akureyri in Iceland condemning this violation of international humanitarian law last spring. At the same time, the then president and vice president made an exploratory tour to Warsaw and the Baltic capitals. Co-operation between several Northern European and Southeast European parliaments has grown out of these explorations, which have so far culminated in today’s meeting in Kiev.