Veit speech at 25 BSPC

Implementation of the BSPC ResolutionContribution by Ms Carola Veit, BSPC Vice PresidentThank you very much honorable Chair,Ladies and Gentlemen,Dear colleagues,Those of you, who are members of the BSPC Standing Committee, are already familiar with what I am about to share with you. But I am convinced that it is an issue that is relevant for our entire conference. So maybe we could think about ways to involve the entire conference in this process a bit more.For several years, the BSPC has made an effort to find the right mode for analyzing past resolutions, in order to see what has already been achieved, and where action is still needed. In his speech, Janis mentioned that our governments’ feedback has become increasingly comprehensive. This is a very good development.Those of you who took part at the Rostock conference can find the governments’ answers and the measures taken in response as part of an annex to the 24th BSPC Conference Report.As a first attempt, I would like to briefly summarize the governments’ responses to the resolution of the 24th BSPC in Rostock, including a corresponding analysis by a researcher.As you can see on this first slide, nineteen parliamentary delegations have adopted the 24th BSPC resolution so far.The follow-up reports varied considerably concerning comprehensiveness, structure and thematic depth.With regard to the follow-up of the 24th BSPC resolution, last year the Standing Committee decided to address the governments with a joint letter regarding the implementation of this resolution, thus hoping to achieve better comparability between the answers received.However, the reports still seem to vary significantly. Reliable conclusions about the overall activities of a respective government in a certain policy area can still not be derived from them. They do – however – illustrate, which policy areas and calls for action have been considered as more or less important by the governments. They also shed light on the instruments that have been used for policy implementation.The answers we received also explicitly list a great variety of measures and projects, that were implemented in the respective policy field.Ladies and gentlemen,Let us have a look at the thematic feedback: In total, the 24th BSPC resolution lists 57 calls for action, subsumed in the preamble and its four chapters. Unsurprisingly, the majority of responses concerned health-related issues – as you can see on the second slide.Maybe a bit more surprising is the fact, though, that the classic BSPC chapter on “Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region” did not receive as much attention. For the governments, the most important call for action seems to be paragraph 8, which called for upgrading the reception facilities for sewage in passenger ports.By far the most responses were received to these four calls for action – as you can see on the third slide: early intervention to strengthen good public health, transnational emergency care, transnational co-operation in the treatment of rare diseases, and strategies to address the demographic change. I will briefly sketch the answers received to the Top Two ones:With regard to early intervention, all responses support the call for action to improve early intervention to strengthen good public health by social investment, such as vaccine programs, and to take active measures to reduce consumption of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, as well as to work on stronger prevention of diabetes II and other lifestyle illnesses.With regard to transnational emergency care, we can posit that consistent agreements and arrangements are already at hand or in preparation. There seems to be no need for further measures on transnational emergency care.So far about the implementation of last year’s resolution. I am full of hope that we can work together on a mechanism to involve the entire conference in the follow-up of past resolutions.Dear colleagues,Thank you.