Openning address by Joergen Kosmo (en)

Check against spoken wordJørgen Kosmo, President of the Norwegian StortingThe 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference BSPC“Sustainable Development – Shared concerns and responsibilities in theBaltic Sea Region”Bergen 29-31 August 2004It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all to Norway and to Bergen. On behalf of theNorwegian Storting I hereby open the 13th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference.Why would we hold a conference on cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region here in Bergen?Because of the history of this city.From around the year 1300 and for centuries after, Bergen was a trade centre of Europeansignificance. The city had between 5 and 10,000 inhabitants and was clearly the largest andmost important city in the country. It was a medium-sized city even by European standards.During the summer months, the Bergen Harbour was filled with vessels from the areas aroundthe North Sea and the Baltic as well as from the entire Kingdom of Norway including theNorse island communities westward.Around 1360, Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, was founded as a Hansa ”office” likeNovgorod, Brügge and London. The Lübeck merchants were to dominate Bryggen for nearly400 years. Stockfish exports and grain imports formed the principal basis of their businessactivities. The stockfish was produced in North Norway as the chief Norwegian export.Stockfish was in great demand during Lent in the Catholic countries of Europe. Norway forits part depended on grain imports from England and the Baltic countries. Bryggen was a”port of transhipment” in this barter.Towards the end of the Middle Ages, Bergen was among the most important Hansa Cities,possibly the most important.And today the city is a member of the UBC : Union of Baltic Cities.Chairman,The current cooperation in the Baltic Sea Area is broadly based. The areas of focus includedemocratic development, economic integration and development, education, environmentaland energy issues, nuclear safety, secure living conditions, combating the spread ofcommunicable disease and fighting organized crime.Norway’s commitment to the Baltic Sea Cooperation is a crucial part of Norway’s adjacentarea policy. We value this work because it is seen as an important forum to promotecooperation between Russia and its Western neighbours.After the EU enlargement in the spring of 2004, eight of the member countries of the Councilof the Baltic Sea States have become members of the EU. In the meeting of the heads ofgovernment in Estonia in June, somewhat divergent opinions were aired concerning theimplications of the enlargement for the role and significance of the Council in years to come.It is my understanding that the Polish Presidency has placed the future role and function of theCouncil as a priority subject on the agenda, and is aiming to produce a new draft mandate forthe Council before the meeting of foreign ministers in Poland next spring. I look forward tohearing the Polish Foreign minister’s speech on the ideas that prevail on the government side.As parliamentarians, we also need to consider how to organize our parliamentary cooperation.I note that last year’s Baltic Sea Conference asked the Standing Committee in the final act tostrengthen the parliamentary conferences to make them the parliamentary dimension of theCBSS.Allow me to repeat part of the story:On the initiative of the Finnish Parliamentary President (Kalevi Sorsa), the first conferencewas held in Helsinki in 1991. Norway followed up the initiative and organized the 2ndconference together with the Nordic Council in Oslo in 1992. The Oslo conference adoptedthe formal basis for further parliamentary cooperation (Mandate for parliamentaryConferences for Co-operation in the Baltic Sea Area). The third conference in Warszaw in1994 laid the foundations for the structure we have today, where a Standing Committeeprepares the annual conferences, the secretariat function being at the Nordic Councilsecretariat in Copenhagen.Our parliamentary cooperation in the present-day situation must allow for the EU and NATOenlargements. We must of course ensure that the various cooperational fora active today avoiddual work by creating the conditions for increased cooperation and information exchangebetween the various structures of cooperation.In this situation, I feel we are called upon to think along new lines. We need to be flexible andembrace change.The parlamentarian Baltic Sea Conferences and the Standing Parliamentarian Committee dovaluable work by directing attention towards specific issues and by acting as a driving forcevis à vis governments and their partner constellations such as the CBSS, the Barents Council,The Arctic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. This is important also in relation tothe Northern Dimension of the EU.We parliamentarians have the excellent Baltic Sea Cooperation, we have an Arcticparliamentarian cooperation looking after the transatlantic connections in particular,we have a network of Barents parliamentarians involving North West Russianparliamentarians and the Nordic Council, and of course, there is the Nordic Council whosecore activity will always be parliamentary cooperation between the Nordic countries.In my view, we should streamline and coordinate our parliamentary activities for NorthernEurope. What we need is a “Parliamentarian partnership for Northern Europe” as anoverreaching structure for our geographical area, to be a source of inspiration and a drivingforce vis à vis our governments and the EU Commission. This partnership should meet forconferences annually or biannually. A Standing Committee of parliamentarians shouldprepare the conferences.The foreign ministers would be our opposite number on the government side.They are meeting already in the CBSS, the Barents Council and the Arctic Council.We already have the tool: The Baltic Sea conferences and the Standing Committee ofparliamentarians. Some adjustments are required.The geographical area needs to be enlarged, the European Parliament must take part, and theparliament of every country must be represented in the Standing Committee ofparliamentarians.The participation of the Nordic parliaments can most easily be coordinated through the NordicCouncil. It is important that all the national parliaments have similar views on the need forparliamentary cooperation in Northern Europe. Acting jointly as parliamentarians in a broaderforum would strengthen cooperation both for the Baltic Sea and the Barents Region, whilstsending the message to the rest of Europe that our North European countries stand united forsustainable economic development, good democratic governance and environmentalprotection. It is my intention , having conferred with my Nordic Parliamentary Presidentcolleagues, to inform the parliamentary presidents of the remaining six countries about thesethoughts and ideas in a broader parliamentary forum.I was pleased to note that Lithuania wishes to host the next Baltic Sea conference. Given itshistory and geographical location, Lithuania is well poised to organize the first conference forparliamentary partnership in Northern Europe.In connection with Nordic Council’s committee meetings to be held in Bodø, Norway in lateJune next year, the Storting and Nordic Council will host a Barents parlamentarians’ meetingwith participants from the Nordic countries, Russia and the European Parliament after themeetings of the Council. I will invite the Standing Committee of parliamentarians of theBaltic Sea conference to take part in this meeting of parliamentarians.In future I expect that a ”parliamentary partnership in Northern Europe” will cover the needfor this type of Barents meetings.I know that the regional parliament in Northern Germany and Poland have formed apartnership pattern. Similarly, in the North we have the Barents Regional CouncilI am sure that connections may be set up between these bodies and conferences ofparliamentarians.I wish you every success with this conference!