STRASBOURG, 25 October 2019 – OSCE PA President George Tsereteli took part in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, hosted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 24-25 October. The event, which gathered Speakers of Parliament from 47 countries on the Eurasian continent, provided an opportunity for productive discussions on common challenges in the region and on the role of parliaments and parliamentary diplomacy in international relations.

George Tsereteli addresses European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Strasbourg, 24 October 2019Addressing the session on “Our common European home: the next 70 years,” President Tsereteli called for investing in international co-operation and advocated an increased role for parliamentary diplomacy in the current challenging geopolitical context.

“If we look at the 70 years ahead of us, the picture will not be bright if we do not resolve the conflicts affecting our region and neighbourhood, where, first and foremost, our people are suffering and losing hope,” Tsereteli said.

“While Europe has truly become a common home after so many wars and conflicts, also thanks to the unprecedented will to preserve peace and advance human rights and fundamental freedoms, we cannot but acknowledge some worrying setbacks on agreed values and principles,” Tsereteli said. In this regard, he mentioned the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine and the situation in Georgia.

“As elected representatives, we carry the additional responsibility of restoring the confidence of our citizens towards politics,” he said.

On the margins of the conference, the OSCE PA delegation met with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Liliane Maury Pasquier, the Secretary General of PACE, Wojciech Sawicki, and with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric.

The sides stressed the excellent co-operation they enjoy and discussed areas of common engagement, such as election observation and human rights promotion, and the challenges the two organizations face in addressing effectively current political and security issues. Furthermore, President Tsereteli and SG Pejcinovic Buric agreed to enhance synergies between the two organizations focusing on each other's comparative advantages to raise the overall impact of multilateral fora in the region.

Family photo of secretaries general in Strasbourg, 25 Oct. 2019OSCE PA Secretary General Montella and Deputy Secretary General Gustavo Pallares participated in the meeting of secretaries general focused on increasing parliamentary participation and impact.

“Parliamentarians are the bridge between citizens and institutions, they are sentinels of the needs and feelings of the people and they are key for the identification and implementation of effective policies,” Montella said. He also stressed the genuine desire of MPs to meet and discuss current challenges in multilateral fora, and presented OSCE PA efforts to expand the range of activities and ensure that long-term perspective policies can be effectively debated.

On the sidelines of the Conference, President Tsereteli and Secretary General Montella had fruitful exchanges with a number of Speakers of Parliament from across the OSCE region, including those of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. They also met with Inter-Parliamentary Assembly President Gabriela Cuevas Barron, as a follow-up to their participation in the IPU Assembly in Belgrade last week.

For President Tsereteli's full remarks to the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, please click here.

Photos of the OSCE PA's participation in the Strasbourg event are on Flickr.