President Lennmarker visits the European Parliament

President Göran Lennmarker met with the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and the EP's Election Co-ordination Group - co-chaired by Josep Borrell Fontelles (Spain) and Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (Poland) on 17 April 2007 in Brussels. The Election Co-ordination Group is responsible for the election observation missions conducted by the European Parliament.

The main focus of discussion was the need for political leadership of election observation by parliamentarians.

Members of the Election Co-ordination Group shared their experiences with regard to their co-operation with the Governmental structures of the EU in

election observation and highlighted the importance of having long term observations by experts combined with political judgements by parliamentarians. President Lennmarker briefed the Group on the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's perspective on these issues. All interlocutors agreed that political judgement by experienced parliamentarians must play a central role in observation missions. President Pöttering and Members of the Election Co-ordination Group welcomed establishing even closer co-operation between international parliamentary bodies in election observation. In this regard, the importance of the international community speaking with one unified voice was underlined.

Secretary General Spencer Oliver and Deputy Secretary General Tina Schøn accompanied the President on his visit to Brussels, as did Åsa Ekwall from the Swedish Parliament.