On the first day, at the international conference, the representatives of the parliaments of the SEECP 12 member states and Pristina, the European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, universities and research institutes discussed setting and applying regional priorities and cooperation with other regional initiatives and civil society organisations, as well as international organisations, with a special focus on the role of the SEECP PA in the European integration process and intensification or cooperation with the European Parliament.

The participants agreed that SEECP PA should have a key role in the region and be the leader of the regional initiatives, joint projects and activities. They highlighted the significance and need for support to the countries in the EU accession process and exchange of experiences relating to legislative harmonisation with the SEECP members which are also EU member states. The conference also touched on the infrastructural projects in the region, energy efficiency, economic development, employment and social issues. In this segment, Vesna Rakonjac shared the positive experiences of the Igman Initiative concerning employment, workplace safety, social status of the workers and employers’ obligations, drawing attention to the fact that the countries signatories of the Dayton Accords intend to sign bilateral and trilateral agreements on free movement of labour force. She stressed that the states participating in the Igman Initiative, with the support of the Danish Embassy, are ready to expand cooperation in the fields of employment and social issues with other countries, adding how pleased she was to see Slovenia join the talks. She concluded that the high unemployment rate, workers’ problems, social welfare and poverty are problems plaguing all the countries in the region and a place to reach a consensus on the need to join efforts in solving them. To that end, Rakonjac suggested setting up a subcommittee on employment and social issue within the General Committee on Social Development,Education, Research and Science, which the SEECP member states endorsed.

The migrant crisis affecting all the SEECP member states was a topic of especial interest, wherein the participants commended the EU’s readiness to secure speedy and efficient humanitarian and financial assistance to help tackle the refugee pressures and appealed to the EU member states to take a coordinated effort to resolve the refugee crisis and involve the accession countries which suffer under the influx of refugees. The Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean presented the mechanisms developed in the meantime by the United Nations for speedy crisis response, stating that a common solution to this and coming problems would soon be found.

At the meeting of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly Standing Committee, the members of the Committee and the authorised representatives of the SEECP parliaments and Pristina discussed the guidelines for the cooperation agreement between the SEECP PA and the European Parliament based on the conclusions of the international conference. They agreed that the cooperation should be intensified, and the Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok endorsed the initiative of the Bulgarian chairmanship of the SEECP and invited the SEECP PA representatives to attend the AFET meeting at the beginning of next year. The conclusion of the Standing Committee was that the intensified cooperation with the European Parliament would boost the influence of the SEE region and improve the understanding of the problems and issues faced by the SEECP member states. The institutionalisation of the relations between the EP and SEECP PA through a memorandum of cooperation in the near future would be an important step forward for the SEE region and of considerable help to the countries in the region currently undergoing the EU accession process.