The Plenary Session is the last event within the parliamentary dimension of the Albanian chairmanship, after which Bulgaria takes over the chairmanship of the South East Europe Cooperation Process.

The SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Plenary Session was attended by parliamentary delegations headed by parliament speakers/delegation heads from all 12 participating states, plus representatives from Pristina.

The plenary meeting was preceded by meetings of the three general committees, Ad Hoc Working Group and the Standing Committee, on 22 May. Katarina Rakic took part in the meeting of the General Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Security Cooperation where she was elected Committee Chair, MP Srdjan Kruzevic took part in the meeting of the General Committee on Economy, Infrastructure and Energy, and Olena Papuga took part in the meeting of the General Committee on Social Development Education, Research and Science. At the meetings, the MPs established the composition of the general committees and chose committee chairs for the next year.

On the second day of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Plenary Session, chaired by Albanian Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta, the assembly was addressed by Vice-President of the European Parliament Ioan Mircea Pаsçu who emphasised the importance the regional initiative has as a best practice example of regional and neighbourly cooperation. The participants then proceeded to discuss “The role of parliaments in the integration processes and the exchange of experiences and contributions in this framework”.

The National assembly Delegation stressed the significance of establishing the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly as the highest institutional mode of cooperation which would contribute to better good-neighbourly relations, stability, security and cooperation between the countries in the region. The Republic of Serbia is firmly committed to peace, stability and right to live, condemns the attempts to destabilise Macedonia and the region and offers full solidarity to the defence of these values from extremism and violence. They also emphasised the importance of cooperating with the governments to identify projects of common interest for the countries of the region and create room for their realisation by linking them with the plans of the European Commission, especially in the programming of the new Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance IPA 2. The Republic of Serbia, currently chairing the OSCE, strives to improve regional cooperation and contribute to the region’s European integration. Joint activities within the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly will contribute to the candidate and potential candidate states’ European prospects, especially through a constant exchange of experiences with the EU member states. As a country which has begun the EU negotiations talks, Serbia remains consistent in the implementation of reforms, because EU accession is the Republic of Serbia’s strategic commitment and principal foreign policy goal. It is highly important that the countries of the region cooperate in the harmonisation of legislation, taking unified stances and positions and acting jointly in the European institutions, especially in the spheres that would secure better living standards for their citizens.

At the Plenary Session, the participants adopted the Secretariat’s Rulebook prepared by the Ad Hoc Working Group and a Report noting the termination of the mandate of the Ad Hoc Working Group considering that no consensus had been achieved as regards the Secretariat headquarters. It was agreed that the two countries which had submitted candidacies for Secretariat headquarters (Bulgaria and Turkey), try to achieve consensus on the issue through bilateral contacts by the next SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Plenary Session.

At the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Plenary Session, the participants adopted a Declaration and reports and resolutions of each of the three general committees.

At the margins of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Plenary Session, the National Assembly delegation had several bilateral meetings.