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In preparation of the 26 th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference on 3- 5 September 2017 in Hamburg, the BSPC Rapporteur on Innovation in Social and Health Care, MP Olaug Bollestad, Norway, has issued her report on developments in this field for the time period 2015-2016. The Working Group ended its work in 2015. The BSPC Standing Committee decided to continue monitoring the developments in that policy field. The report can be downloaded on the Rapporteur’s webpage. Rapporteur on Innovation in Social and Health Care

BSPC President Carola Veit hold a speech at the Baltic Sea Science Congress on 15 June 2017 in Rostock about the role of evidence-based science in decision-making. During their symposium „Science meets Policy”, the Baltic researchers were primarily concerned with the question to what degree scientific findings can be included in political processes in a more systematic fashion than before. Considering the background of political decisions becoming more and more complex, as Veit said in her speech , evidence-based science required a central role. This applied in particular on the international level to questions dealing with environmental policy, such as happens in the BSPC. As part of the 26 th annual conference of the Baltic Sea Parliamentarians, hosted by the Hamburg Parliament in September, the members would accordingly devote themselves in-depth to dealing with the topic of “Science and Research”. Carola Veit, though, warned not to bring excessive expectations to the table by noting, “In pluralistic societies, politics means the encounter of diverse interests and the orientation along majorities as part of political decision-making processes, to find compromises.” Maximum demands from science therefore could not always be implemented as that in the political reality, also because they generally are in competition with other recommendations in terms of their contents and financial requirements. She encouraged the scientists nonetheless to continue accompanying the work of the parliamentarians in their countries as she considered this the only way to create the best possible foundation for political decision-making. The biennial Baltic Sea Science Congress (BSSC) gathers more than 200 leading scientists from the Baltic Sea Region. It was established 20 years ago, joining the research communities of Baltic Marine Biologists, Baltic Marine Geologists and the Conference of Baltic Oceanographers and is, until today, the main international forum addressing a broad interdisciplinary spectrum of Baltic Sea research. The 11 th Baltic Sea Science Congress “Living along gradients: past, present, future was held on June, 12 – 16, 2017 in Rostock, Germany, hosted by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research and the University of Rostock.

The final session of the BSPC Working Group on „Sustainable Tourism“ took place from May 29 to May 30 on the Åland Islands after almost two years of intensive work. Jörgen Pettersson , Vice-President of the BSPC and Sara Kemetter , Vice Chair of the Working Group, welcomed the members on behalf of the delegation of the Åland Parliament to the BSPC. „In our final session, we developed eleven important and concrete recommendations to the governments of the regions of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. The theme is highly topical for all of us, given that the United Nations has declared 2017 the official Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. We will use our work and recommendations in order to make a contribution that will strengthen sustainable tourism in the whole Baltic Sea Region“, concluded Sylvia Bretschneider , Chair of the BSPC Working Group on “Sustainable Tourism” and President of the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Experts began the meeting by presenting the numerous developments concerning sustainable tourism that have already been achieved or will yet be implemented on the Åland Islands. The Deputy Head of Government of Åland, Camilla Gunell , presented a Development and Sustainability Agenda that is central to these developments, featuring seven strategic goals. Furthermore, the members of the Working Group were briefed on concrete tourist projects in the archipelago, providing sustainable and naturalistic offers. Above all, comprehensive recommendations and a call for action for this year’s resolution of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference were advised and adopted. The members also began laying the groundwork for the final report of the Working Group. This report will be published at the beginning of September and will present the key points and results of the two years of work.w

BSPC President Carola Veit took part at the 15 th Conference of the Parliaments of the Southern Baltic Sea Region in Szczecin West Pomeranian region. In her speech, she underscored that it is of crucial importance to promote areas of common interest, to bundle forces and to intensify the exchange of opinions on political and on working level. She appreciated very much that the BSPC was enclosed in the work of the Parliamentary Forum Southern Baltic Sea. The overall theme of the Forum “Cultural Routes” and the Resolution would fit well into the session of the 26 th BSPC 3-5 September 2017 on “Sustainable Tourism”. She invited therefore the President of the Forum and President of the Seijmik Zachodniopomorskie Teresa Kalina to give a speech at the Annual Conference of the BSPC in Hamburg. Culture and tourism combine the past and the present in a very coherent way. The main questions for Carola Veit were: how can we impart to the future generations our common cultural heritage? And how can we use it also to further develop our regions, to preserve the past, to adapt it to the present and to make it accessible to future generations? Cultural routes are on the one hand able to build bridges between countries, and are on the other hand able to contribute to a positive development of the tourism sector, she pointed out. Carola Veit appreciated very much, that the Parliamentary Forum Southern Baltic Sea was incorporating young people and the results of their discussions in its work. She informed the participants about the results of the BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism and how the Working Group included young people from the Baltic Sea Region in its discussions and decision making process.

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Under the chairmanship of BSPC-President Carola Veit, the President of the Hamburg Parliament, the BSPC Standing Committee gathered in Hamburg on 28 April 2017 to discuss the contents and preparation of its next annual conference on 3-5 September 2017 in Hamburg, including the preliminary draft of the resolution as well as the implementation of the 25 th BSPC resolution from Riga. Carola Veit began the meeting by expressing her sympathies to the Russian and Swedish peoples over the terrorist attacks that had taken place in Saint Petersburg and Stockholm in April. The attacks posed a challenge for open, liberal societies but, as she underlined, “we are not divided by those attacks, and we are a continuous example of open, tolerant societies bound by democratic principles and the rule of law”. In his expert presentation, Dr Jan-Hinrik Schmidt from the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research at the University of Hamburg lay the groundwork for the parliamentarians’ subsequent discussions, with his presentation on „The Participation Paradox – How the Internet is Shaping and Changing Democratic Involvement”. In his very informative speech he showed that social media platforms provide information from a large variety of different sources, ranging from professional journalism over celebrities to personal contacts. They present this information not as discrete packages of content, but as a constantly updated flow of microcontent. Selection and filtering, he said, were moving from editors to the users and to algorithms. Mr. Schmidt drew attention to the fact that the criteria and parameters applied in algorithmic filtering were largely unknown and intransparent. Empirical studies show, he continued, that for certain groups and contextssocial media would provide people only with information in line with their previous interests, allowing people to remain (or retrench) in groups which constantly affirm their established opinions and world views, partially also fostering the spread of harmful, racist, hostile, sexist, etc. communication which impedes constructive debates (Hate Speech Scenario). The speaker underlined that this was not a general pattern for all users. He further described other relations between participation and social practice, concluding that “The Internet, and social media in particular, foster participation by active citizens – and at the same time re‐affirm existing inequalities and challenge the foundations of democratic debate”. Based on this speech, the Standing Committee discussed among other topics Social Media Governance in particular. The meeting further prepared the 26 th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, discussed the follow-up to the resolution of the 25 th BSPC in Riga, informed itself about the work of the BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism and discussed options of including young people in the work of the BSPC, referring to the successful Baltic Sea Parliamentary Youth Forum several weeks earlier. The Standing Committee also unanimously agreed to establish a new Working Group on “Migration and Integration”. Thereby, the BSPC will deal over the next 2 years “with one of the biggest challenges of our time”, BSPC President Carola Veit concluded. A day before the meeting, the participants of the Standing Committee had been welcomed at Zollenspieker Fährhaus by Mr Börries von Notz, sole management board member of the foundation “Historical Museums Hamburg”. Mr Börries had presented the wide range of activities carried out by the three museums united in The Historic Museums Hamburg with 9 different locations including their branch sites and about 360,000 annual visitors. The mission of the historical museums of Hamburg, he’d said, was to render the present, in its complexity, understandable by showing the relationships in the history of the region, with its national and international connections, and making them accessible, thus contributing to a free and peace-loving society. “Only in an intensive continuing dialogue can we preserve the benefits of peace and prosperity,” the speaker concluded.

Upon the invitation of the Landtag Schleswig-Holstein, the sixth meeting of the BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism took place in Kiel on 13 and 14 March 2017. Young people appointed by the BSPC members were included in the discussions of the Working Group. The parliamentarians as well as the young delegates took part in the expert presentations on the first day. Four experts presented different challenges for the tourism sector in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The core of the discussions were the cross-border presentations on the BSR, maritime tourism as well as touristic infrastructure and mobility. The integration of rural areas, especially with a view to the local economy and the environment, had been deepened. As an excursion, the participants were informed about a project by a private investor intent on contributing to the sustainable development of the rural area with an outdoor academy and an integrated hotel. The second day, the parliamentarians and young adults evaluated the presentations and discussed several proposals, ideas and impulses. The topics included several aspects of sustainable tourism – education, digitalization, the question of a common “Baltic Sea Brand”, music festivals or special forms of tourism like cycling tourism. The youth delegates expressed the idea of an “Interferry ticket” – similar to the “Interrail” project – that could improve the travel opportunities for young people in particular in the BSR as well as the development of an International Program for Sustainable Tourism in the entire Baltic Sea Region. The objective is to transmit these jointly elaborated proposals to the BSPC so that they can influence their future work. The youth delegates then presented the results of their work in front of the European Affairs Committee of the Landtag Schleswig-Holstein on 15 March 2017. The chair of the BSPC Working Group, President of the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Sylvia Bretschneider, said after the end of the meeting: “We should continue and perpetuate the integration of young people in the work of the BSPC. The youth symbolizes the future of our countries and of the whole region. It is important for them to make cross-border contacts with peers. We would do well to provide space for the creativity of young people in our region and to involve them in our discussions.” Presentation Meeting 5 Gerlach Presentation Meeting 5 Pfeiffer Presentation Meeting 5 Sørensen

On 24 January 2017, the working Group on “Sustainable Tourism” held its fifth meeting. More than 30 Baltic Sea parliamentarians, experts, observers and administrative employees followed the invitation of Sylvia Bretschneider to the rooms of the Information Office of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the European Union. The session began with a video conference between Brussels and Madrid. Ms. Isabel Garaña, Regional Director for Europe at the UN World Tourism Organization informed the participants about the global developments in the tourism sector with a special view on the International Year for Sustainable Tourism of the United Nations. Subsequently, Prof. Paul Peeters from the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport of the University of Breda gave a presentation about the connections between environmental protection, climate change and sustainable tourism.Especially in the field of the optimization of traffic routes, concrete recommendations for actions in order to establish “Sustainable Tourism” have been presented. The third expert was Mr. Carlo Corazza, Head of Unit Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries of the European Commission , who briefed the participants on support measures for linked private and public tourism projects. Furthermore, Mr. Veiko Spolītis , member of the Parliament of Latvia, was elected as second Vice Chair of the Working Group. In addition, textual and organizational questions concerning the future work have been discussed. As a result, the forthcoming Working Group meetings will take place in Kiel in March and on the Åland Islands in May. They are primarily going to deal with the elaboration of concrete political recommendations for action for the final report of the Working Group. Young people who are nominated by the parliaments of the BSPC will be involved in the consultations in Kiel. Hence, the interparliamentary cooperation on “Sustainable Tourism” chaired by Sylvia Bretschneider is extended by transnational cooperation with young adults. Sylvia Bretschneider gave a comment after the end of the meeting: “The consultation of the Working Group in Brussels with representatives of the United Nations and the European Commission showed how relevant the topic sustainable tourism is. Especially taking the fact into consideration that the United Nations declared the year 2017 as the international year of sustainable tourism for development. We will have to assess the contributions of the experts very intensely. We are well on our way concerning the elaboration of concrete recommendations of action for the governments of the Baltic Sea Region in the forthcoming meetings. I am particularly looking forward to work with the young people from the Baltic Sea Region within the framework of the next session.”

BSPC Standing Committee meets in Brussels Under the Chairmanship of BSPC-President Carola Veit, the President of the Hamburg Parliament, the BSPC Standing Committee gathered at the European Parliament in Brussels on 23 January 2017 to exchange with partner-organisations about current common issues and to prepare the upcoming Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference in Hamburg. Representatives and delegations of European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the Baltic Sea States, HELCOM, the House of Representatives of Belarus and of BSPC members from Åland-Islands, the Baltic Assembly, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the German Bundestag, Hamburg, Latvia, Lithuania, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Nordic Council, Norway, the Russian Federation, Schleswig-Holstein and Sweden participated in the meeting. The Standing Committee was greeted by the Standing Committee member and Chair of the EP Delegation for relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area Joint Parliamentary Committee, Mr Jørn Dohrmann. In accordance with the BSPC work programme and objectives in 2016- 2017, – to further the cooperation between the CBSS and the BSPC – to promote the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan – to support the development of an equal Baltic Sea Strategy – including regular reporting from the European Commission BSPC Standing Committee had invited CBSS, HELCOM and the European Commission to give progress reports and to discuss current common issues. Progress Report from the Council of the Baltic Sea States Ambassador Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson , Chairman of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, Ambassador of Iceland, thanked the President of the BSPC Carola Veit for taking part at the High-Level Panel Discussion – 25 Years Nordic-Baltic Cooperation in Iceland. She was giving valuable insights into the work of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, highlighting the importance of the dialogue between CBSS and BSPC, and its importance for enhanced cooperation in the region. Ambassador Stefánsson sent regards from Iceland’s new Foreign Minister, Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson. He pointed out that regional organisations are an important tool to stimulate cooperation within Europe and that successful regional cooperation has, time and again, proven its worth. Practical cooperation and dialogue on a broad range of issues can, in general, rebuild and foster mutual trust and have a positive impact internationally. He underlined inter alia that the developments in the BSR and in Europe are a cause for concern. The flow of refugees and the number of displaced people, children included, has not been greater since WWII. The increased threat of terrorism is obvious and it can be seen extremism gaining strength in Europe. At the same time Europe has experienced tensions in the area because of the situation in Ukraine. Therefore the priorities of the Icelandic CBSS Presidency are: democracy, equality and children. This underpins the CBSS long-term priorities, aiming to foster a regional identity, develop a sustainable and prosperous region and build a safe and secure region. CBSS believes that there are substantial benefits from this broad practical cooperation that takes place within the CBSS, including the area of human trafficking, civil protection and child protection. In the past six months CBSS had driven forward several events with a focus on the priorities of democracy, equality and children. CBSS held a Round Table on Youth Affairs and a Baltic Sea Youth Dialogue with young journalists from the region. The CBSS intends also to stimulate knowledge sharing and best practices in regards to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Developments Goals. The CBSS Expert Group on Sustainable Development is developing an Action Plan for the Baltic 2030 process built on the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In all matters of the SDGs CBSS finds regional cooperation to be very important. Ambassador Stefánsson closing his speech informed that CBSS is now in the process of planning a high-level meeting in June this year on the occasion of the 25 th anniversary of CBSS. He asked for support of the BSPC in making this high level political dialogue between the member countries possible. Briefings on Belarus and the Eastern Partnership after election in Belarus The Standing Committee was currently engaged in deliberations over its stance concerning Belarus. The next step has been taken in this process at the SC meeting in Brussels, thus the House of Representatives of Belarus was invited to inform about the current situation in Belarus. Mr Valery Voronetski , Chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Belarus presented the political situation after elections in September 2016. He pointed out that during elections, 827 international observers and 32,105 citizen observers were accredited. The OSCE admitted that 11 September parliamentary elections were efficiently organized. Women were well-represented in the election process. Out of the 114 women candidates standing in these elections, 38 were elected. This is more than twice the amount in the outgoing parliament and represents some 35 per cent of all members of parliament. The speaker also underlined that 27 out of 110 parliamentarians were elected for the second time and this ensures a continuity of the parliament’s work also with regard to its international cooperation. In October 2016 the Republic of Belarus adopted its first national human rights plan. It contains 100 measures to improve the human rights situation in the country. In response to the question on death penalty still imposed in Belarus the speaker recalled the national referendum in which the majority of citizens stood for capital punishment. He also admitted that in the new House of Representatives a committee dealing with the issue has been established. Mr Andrzej Zdrojewski MP, Chair of the EP Delegation for Relations with Belarus confirmed that following an official invitation by the authorities of the Republic of Belarus, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the 11 September 2016 parliamentary elections. The elections were efficiently organized but, despite some first steps by the authorities, a number of long-standing systemic shortcomings remain. The constitutional and legal framework does not adequately guarantee the conduct of elections in line with OSCE commitments and other international obligations and standards, and a number of key long-standing OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe Venice Commission recommendations remain unaddressed. Therefore, the European Parliament in the resolution on the situation in Belarus stated that the progress made in Belarus is insufficient. The reform on the election law will be the key issue to further developments in the relations with Belarus. The BSPC Standing Committee continued its discussion about the further procedure for the BSPC’s engagement with Belarus on the basis of the informations and contributions. Priorities of the EU Chairmanship of HELCOM Ms Marianne Wenning, Chair of HELCOM presented Priorities of the EU Chairmanship of HELCOM. She admitted that with regard to priority ”Reaching a healthy ecosystem in the Baltic Sea by 2021’ the new holistic assessment, HOLAS II, will reveal the Helcom countries efforts have led to improvements in the Baltic Sea environmental status, since HOLAS I in 2010. The results will be released by mid-2017 and updated by mid-2018. Pressures and impacts will be further quantified, including via the latest ‘Pollution Load Compilation’, allowing to evaluate progress towards the goals of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. This work will also help contracting parties that are EU Member States in fulfilling their obligations under EU marine legislation. Moreover, implementation of the regional action plan for marine litter will be a priority. In addition to the environmental benefits, this will also demonstrate the strength of Baltic regional cooperation in meeting global commitments. Ms. Wenning acknowledged that further synergies with regional or European governance frameworks will be sought, for instance with the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. She explained, that the adoption of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development should strengthen ocean governance and Regional Sea Conventions, in particular HELCOM, should play a crucial role in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 on oceans and seas. Progress report on the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Mr Peter Schenk from the European Commission, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, who has principal responsibility for overseeing the EUSBSR briefed the meeting with recent developments in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. A Commission report on the implementation of macro-regional strategies was published on 16 December 2016, and the achievements and the challenges were analysed in the paper. The achievements had been: Increased political awareness of challenges and opportunities specific for the Baltic Sea Region; mobilisation of projects across borders (more than 120 Flagships); increased knowledge and joint initiatives; better coordination of existing networks and participation of neighbouring non-EU countries. Challenges are: Maintain commitment, mobilise funding and communicate results. In order to tackle the challenges with regard to communication, the Commission launched the Communication Strategy for the EUSBSR. With regard to funding, Managing Authorities Network received a support as a ‘pilot ‘of the ERDF. The second call for projects of the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme, ‘Seed money projects’ and ‘targeted support’ to the implementation of the EUSBSR has been announced, and last but not least the EUSBSR funding portal has been created. Mr Schenk invited all participants to the 8 th EUSBSR Annual Forum in Berlin, on 13/14 June 2017 which will be hosted by Germany – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the CPMR – Baltic Sea Commission and in close cooperation with the European Commission. The 26 th BSPC, Hamburg 3-5 September 2017, Working Group and Rapporteurs BSPC President Carola Veit informed the Standing Committee on the progress of preparations of the upcoming Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference in Hamburg to realise a high-level political dialogue and to involve youth. Main themes of the conference will be democracy and participation, science and research as well as sustainable tourism. The BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism conducted a meeting in Brussels back-to-back to the meeting of the BSPC Standing Committee. On initiative of the Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein there will be organised again a Baltic Youth Parliamentary Forum 13-14 March 2017 in Kiel back-to-back with a meeting of the BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism to discuss this issue with young people and give them the opportunity to develop recommendations for the resolution of the conference. The BSPC Standing Committee appointed – additional to Sylvia Bretschneider, Mecklenburg Vorpommern – Saara-Sofia Sirén from the Finnish Parliament as Co-observer and Co-rapporteur to HELCOM.

The highest Executive Committee of the BSPC, led by the new President of the BSPC, the President of the Hamburg Parliament, Carola Veit, held its first meeting under the new Presidency on the premises of the Hamburg Parliament, the so-called Bürgerschaft, on 15 November. Delegations from Åland-Islands, the Baltic Assembly, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the German Bundestag, Hamburg, Latvia, Lithuania, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Nordic Council, Norway, the Russian Federation, Schleswig-Holstein and Sweden participated in the meeting. Implementation of resolutions The main focus was put on the follow-up of the resolution of the 25 th annual conference, which took place in Riga from 28 – 30 August 2016, and the reports of the national and regional governments about the implementation of the 24 th BSPC resolution on the basis of political analyses. Involving youth Furthermore, an intensive discussion was held about the integration of young people into decision-making processes. Representatives of several parliaments and parliamentary organisations informed about a number of youth projects and their ways of involving young people in politics and democratic decision-making processes. The Standing Committee intends to continue the dialogue between young people and Members of Parliament. As already during the preparation of the 24 th BSPC the BSPC parliaments and parliamentary organisations will send young people to a Baltic Sea Youth Parliamentary Forum, which will take place on 13-15 March 2017 in Kiel, Schleswig Holstein. There, the young people will discuss sustainable tourism with the members of the BSPC Working Group, they will develop proposals for the next BSPC resolution and present them at the BSPC in Hamburg on 3 – 5 September 2017, referring the United Nations’ Year of Sustainable Tourism Development. Science, research and the Baltic science network With regard to the other priority of the Hamburg BSPC Presidency ‘Science and Research’ the 2 nd Mayor and Minister (Senator) of Science, Research and Equalities of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg addressed the SC members. Ms Fegebank provided information about the latest developments in the Baltic Science Network, the leading transnational forum for higher education, science and research cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. The network serves as a platform for targeted multi-lateral activities concerning research and innovation excellence, mobility of scientists and increased participation. In order to intensify and expand the collaboration of universities and research institutions in the Baltic Sea Region in 2014 the Hamburg Senate resolved the “Hamburg Baltic Sea Strategy for science and research” on the basis of an education and research conference. In the meantime Denmark, Estonia, Finland, several German federal states, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Russia as well as all important Baltic Sea regional institutions are involved. In the discussion the Standing Committee emphasized a strong interest in intensifying the scientific collaboration in the Baltic Sea Region, qualitatively as well as quantitatively, and in supporting the Baltic Sea Science Network as an important tool to enhance macro-regional dimension in science and research policy, from which the higher education research institutions should benefit. Discussion about Belarus The Standing Committee members decided to continue their discussions about the further procedure for the BSPC’s engagement with Belarus at their next meeting on 23 January 2017, which will take place back-to-back with the next meeting of the Working Group on Sustainable Tourism in Brussels on 24 January 2017.

The BSPC Working Group on Sustainable Tourism held its 4 th meeting back-to-back to the 9 Baltic Sea Tourism Conference in Pärnu, Estonia, 18 – 20 October. As expert Rainer Aavik, the Deputy Mayor of Pärnu City Government, attended the meeting and provided the WG members a presentation concerning the tourism concept of Pärnu. Rainer Aavik explained that tourism in the „summer capital of Estonia“ focusses on „high end“ consumers and the demand markets from Finland and Sweden. Furthermore, the offers in the winter saison were customized at new demands so that among the „high end consumers“ also the new generation are targeted. As result, the city of Pärnu was nearly fully booked in the last year, especially at the week-ends. Further to the presentation, the members of the Working Group discussed the distribution of budgets and taxes in their states and regions. The attendees especially presented their different taxation models and tax incentives in the tourism sector. In general, it can be seen as a trend that tourism is a growing sector so that the fiscal policies in the Baltic Sea states have to react on these tendencies. 9 th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum – Speech by Sylvia Bretschneider Following the Working Group meeting, the members participated at the 9 th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum. This year’s conference focussed on two thematic priority areas: seasonality (1 st conference day) and sustainability (2 nd conference day). As chairwoman of the Working Group, Sylvia Bretschneider provided the participants of the forum a status report about the Working Group at the second day. She stressed that against the background that tourism sector is a competitive market, cooperation and the exchange of experiences are very important to achieve the promotion of the entire Baltic Sea region. Even though, there are already good examples of the intensive cooperation, like that forum itself, the close connection of all Baltic rim states needs to be further strengthened. Sylvia Bretschneider requested the participants to get in contact with the attendant Working Group members and to give them new ideas and inspirations for the improvement of the legal and political framework in the tourism sector. Participation of Sara Kemetter at expert debate As vice-chair of the Working Group Sara Kemetter also contributed to the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum. She participated at an expert debate with Dario Bazargan (Cruise Lines International Association – CLIA), Krista Kampus (Council of the Baltic Sea States – CBSS) and the moderator Jana Apih (Institute Factory of Sustainable Tourism, GoodPlace). Sara Kemetter also emphasized the importance of cooperation as an aspect of sustainability. As an example she mentioned that environmental challenges, like the pollution from the rivers, can only be jointly solved. Furthermore, she presented the participants the perspective from Åland. Åland has developed a back casting plan to achieve total sustainability until 2051. For this aim, they installed a Ministry for Sustainability and Economy which is supposed to monitor this process. The following parliamentarians participated at the 4 th Working Group meeting: Sylvia Bretschneider (Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Sara Kemetter (Parliament of Åland), Andre Sepp (Parliament of Estonia), Grzegorz Matusiak (Parliament Poland) and Pyry Niemi (Parliament Sweden). The upcoming WG meeting will be convened in Brussels, 23 – 24 January 2017, back-to-back to the Standing Committee meeting (23 January 2017).