The 28^th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Oslo 25-27 August 2019

Following the 28 th annual Conference in Oslo, the BSPC has published a compilation of the speeches and presentations currently available. The collection will be continuously completed. The collection can be downloaded here and on the 28 th conference webpage.

Concluding the conference, the parliamentarians unanimously passed a resolution covering cooperation in the Baltic Sea region, the future of working life, safeguarding the oceans – achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals – as well as migration and integration. In their resolution, they called, among other points, to strengthen trust among all Member States of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) through further concrete efforts and measures; to intensify the early involvement of the next generation and respect the next generation’s concerns more intensively in policy and decision-making processes via concrete measures of the governments to reinforce the foundations of trust and security in the Baltic Sea region as an element of foreign policy; to implement and exchange ideas on the ministerial level as early as possible; to include the social partners’ current considerations and strategic approaches in meeting the considerable challenges regarding the future of working life and to use the early exchange of such to deal with these challenges in the individual countries of the Baltic Sea region; to support the further development of a legally-binding, globally-reaching mechanism for managing plastic waste and to explore the possibility of a Baltic Sea-wide agreement on the future management of migration. After the successful passing of the resolution, the baton of the Presidency went to Lithuania as the host of the next and 29 th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. The conference unanimously appointed Valerijus Simulik , Member of Lithuanian Parliament as the new BSPC President. Jorodd Asphjell, Member of the NorwegianParliamentand Pyry Niemi , Member of the Swedish Parliament were appointed Vice Presidents of the BSPC. The upcoming BSPC President Valerijus Simulik invited the delegates to Vilnius (August 22 until 25) and remarked that after 15 years, the BSPC would come back to Lithuania. “During our Presidency, we want to place a special emphasis on what is particularly close to our hearts: a boost to innovation through science and technology and their interaction to achieve better added value in economic development based on science” he pointed out in his address as incoming President of the BSPC 2019-2020. The success of the 28 th BSPC Conference was not only shown in the unanimous adoption of a resolution with far-reaching common objectives but also in the creation of a platform for the presentation of sometimes very different positions and proving that a compromise could be reached in a debate that was sometimes heated at the beginning, but always conducted in a parliamentary fashion. The many discussions that took place in the Storting plenary hall, within the framework of the cultural programme and especially during the evening to which the President of the Storting had invited the participants, helped to reduce existing tensions on some national levels, to build new confidence, to deepen cooperation and to decide on common, future-oriented measures. The main topic on the last day of the conference was migration and integration, with the session chaired by Pyry Niemi, MP, Sweden and Carola Veit, MP, President of the State Parliament of Hamburg. A significant part of the session was given to the speech by two representatives of the younger generation and the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Youth Forum – Ms Rama Akid who introduced herself as a refugee from Syria living in Germany and Ms Sara Zdanovska from Latvia. They reported on discussions during the Migration and Integration Working Group in Schwerin in April 2019 and presented the young people’s view on that issue. The youths had identified the most important problems of immigrants: differences of culture and religion, educational differences, the weather – an underestimated but important factor playing a role in the mental health of immigrants -, the language and different procedures in applying for a job. Among the wishes and recommendations to the decision-makers were: countries being educated about newcomers and vice versa, desegregation, political participation, involvement of youth councils and education. Hans Wallmark , MP, Chairman of the BSPC Working Group on Migration and Integration, presented the Second Interim Report of the Working Group, which can be downloaded from the BSPC website. Mr Wallmark stated that “the challenge is thatevery member country has its own set of historical experiences, traditions and political culture. It is no secret that the member states of the BSPC have different approaches to migration. What may work well in one country may not work at all in another. Sometimes, we might have to modify a policy to make it successful in our own environment. The most important aspect is that we are open-minded and try to learn from each other’s successes and mistakes. That is what Baltic cooperation should be all about.” Mr Tuomas Martikainen, Director of the Migration Institute of Finland, presented some considerations and conclusions about the policy assessment and recommendations on the Baltic Sea governments’ Immigration and Integration Policy. He proposed that the survey gathered by other organizations(e.g. OECD, Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), the Nordic Welfare Centre and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)) could be combined in the future with the data collected by the BSPC members. This would assist the public policies’ role in facilitating the desirable working conditions for NGOs and informal networks, thus strengthening immigrant integration. The next speakers, Ms Annika Annerby Jansson , President Scania Regional Council, and Ms Katarina Carlzen , shared the Skåne Multilevel Best Practice on Integration. In the case of Skåne, the multi-level way of working was the key to success. Ms Jansson informed the audience that a joint strategy had been designed by the Region Skåne, the County Administrative Board and the Skåne Association of Local Authorities. The responsibilities were shared by national, regional and local authorities together with civil society and academia. She stressed that a common strategy had to be translated into concrete practice with different and complementary roles. That methodof work – a multi-level platform, i.e., Partnership Skåne – had been partially transferred to large parts of Sweden, involving all of Sweden’s counties with more than 150 municipalities, five universities and a large number of NGOs. In the next part of the session, two BSPC reports were presented, the Report by Ms Sara Kemetter , MP on Sustainable Tourism, and by Mr Jörgen Pettersson, Vice-President of the BSPC, as well as Dr Thomas Etzold on the Implementation of the 27 th BSPC Resolution. Session Four was concluded by the general debate. There were no restrictions placed on the debate’s content, giving each parliamentarian and every participant the opportunity to contribute what is particularly important to him/her, regardless of the conference topic. BSPC President Jorodd Asphjell, closed the 28 th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference in Oslo with “a thousand thanks”- “tusen takk” to all participants.

The Opening and Monday sessions Over 180 delegates from the Baltic Sea region’s parliaments and interregional organisations, guests and experts were welcomed by Jorodd Asphjell, President of the BSPC, and Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen, President of the Storting, in the Plenary Hall of the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, on Monday morning on 26 August. In her opening address, President Trøen stressed that “If we are to solve common, international challenges, we will need more and closer international cooperation, not less. Climate change, migration and security issues know no borders. Regional stability and friendly relations between our peoples are essential for the wellbeing of our citizens.” She voiced her contentment over the BSPC conference being hosted by Norway for the third time and reminded the audience that the topic discussed during the 2004 BSPC conference had been “Sustainable development – shared concerns and responsibilities in the Baltic Sea Region”. 15 years later, that was still a burning issue, with “clean oceans” one of the main topics of the present conference. President Trøen emphasised that Norway remained strongly committed to the Paris Agreement and the UN sustainable goals with green solutions within shipping and the maritime industry as an important contribution to both of them. In the government’s ocean strategy, the acknowledgement of crossover technology and expertise between the ocean industries as well as exploring new potential played an important role. The speaker noted that Norway also had the ambitious goals of cutting CO 2 emissions from domestic shipping and fishing by 50% by 2030. President Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen wished the parliamentarians a successful conference, good dialogue and enriching discussions. Mr Audun Halvorsen, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, presented “Framework conditions for cooperation in Northern Europe”. He emphasised that the well-established and diverse network of cooperation structures was a strength. But it also represented a challenge when it came to coordination, the potential for overlapping efforts, and the need for strong prioritisation. Therefore, he said “we need to make sure that our work within these different fora is efficient, effective and that we create synergies and avoid duplication (…) ; such coordination is obviously a responsibility for the governments”.Mr Halvorsen highlighted another important issue, e.g. safeguarding the oceans. He stated that the balance between harvesting from our oceans and protecting them was even more important today – both in our neighbourhood and globally. Therefore, multilateral cooperation and international alliances were needed to push the global community to take action to ensure that the oceans would remain healthy and rich. That was why Norway’s Prime Minister last year had established the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. The panel consisted of 14 serving heads of state and government from ocean and coastal states representing all continents. With input from experts, the private sector and civil society, the panel would present a roadmap for action to the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in June 2020. The speaker informed the delegates that in the upcoming October, Norway would host the “Our Ocean Conference” in Oslo with the aim to highlight the importance of knowledge as the basis of all actions and policies to achieve sustainable economic growth. Finally, he underlined the importance of the interaction between practical, project-oriented cooperation and political dialogue. “Political dialogue has been and remains a core condition for agreeing on common objectives and priorities. At the same time, concrete cooperation projects facilitate political dialogue and mutual understanding,” stated the speaker. With that fundamental point, Mr Halvorsen concluded his speech. Jorodd Asphjell, President of the BSPC, noted in his opening address that the historical context of the BSPC had been changing over time. These days, he pointed out, “we find ourselves in a situation of constructive collaboration in many policy fields in which we can all only benefit from cross-border cooperation. However, at the highest political level, we see rising tensions worldwide.” Therefore, he said, a discussion on how to reduce tensions and how to stabilise and maintain peace and prosperity was needed. Mr Asphjell welcomed the distinguished guests of the 28 th BSPC conference, among them the former European Commissioner for Human Rights, the Ministers and the State Secretaries from the Labour Ministries of the CBSS countries, the Transport Minister of Latvia, who presides over the Northern Dimension for transport and logistics, and the State Secretary from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment, who this year holds both the Presidency of HELCOM and the chairmanship of the EU Council in environmental affairs. Summing up the Norwegian Presidency in the BSPC, he said, “In the past year, the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference has visibly and in every respect fulfilled its programmatic and strategic objectives and achieved significant progress: On the basis of our strategy and work programme 2018-2019 and our resolution, we have communicated our principles and core messages at many Baltic Sea-relevant events and beyond, we have intensified the cooperation with our partners, and our programmatic concerns and contents are perceived more strongly. We are becoming increasingly successful in influencing government action. Wherever possible, we have emphasised and strengthened the parliamentary dimension of cooperation. I hope that year after year, we will succeed better and better for the people who elected us.” The opening was followed by three Monday sessions. The first session: Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region proved how intensely the BSPC wascooperating with important stakeholders in the BSR and beyond. Incentive speeches to the debate on “Peaceful and close neighbourliness as well as intense cooperation based on democratic values, the rule of law, human rights and equal opportunitiesfor all” were given by: Mr Nils Muižnieks , former Council of Europe’s Commissioner forHuman Rights, and Dr Alexander Graef from the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy University of Hamburg (IFSH). Next, the representative of the outgoing CBSS Presidency Ambassador Mr Juris Bone fromLatvia and Ms Ida Heimann Larsen, Chair of the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials from Denmark, presented the priorities and activities of the CBSS presidencies. Traditionally, a number of interregional cooperation organisations presented their achievements and possibilities for further cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. The Second Session on the Future of Working Life welcomed speeches by eminent experts, ministers and high representatives of Labour Ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Finland, Norway, Poland and Russia. In his opening address, the chair of the session, Prof Jānis Vucāns, President of the Baltic Assembly,noted that unemployment in Europe was historically low ; nevertheless, the rapidly changing world of work had to be adapted and innovated. He expressed his strong belief that everybody’s living standards could be improved, provided that the governments together with the social partners, would invest in new and better skills, higher qualifications and social services. These investments could prevent a brain drain in the region. The subject matter of the afternoon Monday session, Safeguarding the Oceans – Achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals ,was a consequence of the demands in the BSPC resolution in which the BSPC strongly called for immediate actions to achieve the UN Agenda 2030 goals and to realise the vision of a clean Baltic Sea free from marine litter. Another demand was to take urgent efficient action on the worrying levels of plastics and micro-plastics in the seas; and also to prepare for and help shape the “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” from 2021-2030 proclaimed by the United Nations. The chair of the session, Ms Valentina Pivnenko from the Russian Duma, said: “These are ambitious goals but they are necessary if we want to change the situation for the better and improve the state of heavily polluted seas.” The session was a continuation of a very successful Joint Meeting of the Standing Committees of the BSPC and the PABSEC on the topic “Safeguarding our Oceans and Marine Life” in Istanbul, in April 2019. The third session was an opportunity to exchange experiences and opinions by representatives of very different backgrounds among the speakers. Among these were: Mr Tālis Linkaits, Minister of Transport of the Republic of Latvia, Mr Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s Special Envoy to the High-Level Panel on Building a Sustainable Ocean Economy, and the BSPC Rapporteurs: Ms Saara-Sofia Sirén, Rapporteur on Eutrophication and Mr Jörgen Pettersson, Rapporteur on Integrated Maritime Policy.

The 28 th BSPC is taking place in Oslo, Norway. The themes on the agenda for this conference are clean oceans, the working life in the future as well as migration and integration. The delegates will discuss how oceans can be protected to meet the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and debate the future of working life as well as migration and integration. Oslo as the European Green Capital sets the excellent scene for the meeting of delegates from eleven nations and nine regional parliaments, who will also talk about a rapidly changing labour market. On Sunday, the first day of the conference, the BSPC Drafting Committee and the BSPC Standing Committee held their first sessions in the Norwegian Parliament- Stortinget building. They discussed possible compromises in difficult policy areas. In the afternoon, the delegates took a boat trip and learned about the City of Oslo’s strategies and activities to become greener. In his address during the reception hosted by the Mayor of Oslo on Sunday evening, Mr Jorodd Asphjell, the BSPC President, stressed that the city of Oslo had taken good care of its natural areas, for example by cleaning up the Oslo Fjord and restoring the city’s waterways. These were among the many reasons why Oslo had won the European Green Capital Award for 2019. The President mentioned improving the public transport system by putting on more and better services as well as increasing the number of buses and cars running on electricity or biogas and thus reducing the effect on the climate. “I hope this will inspire us when we will talk about how we treat the Baltic Sea. (…) We must work together to improve the health of the Baltic Sea.” With this call to action, the President ended his first speech at the 28 th BSPC.