The Euronest PA was established on 3 May 2011 in Brussels, when the
Presidents (or their representatives) of the Armenian, Azerbaijani,
Georgian, Moldovan, Ukrainian and European Parliaments signed the
Assembly's Constitutive Act.
The mission of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is to promote the
conditions necessary to accelerate political association and further
economic integration between the European Union and the Eastern
European Partners, as well as to strengthen cooperation within the
region and between the region and the EU. The multi-lateral Assembly
contributes to strengthening, developing and making visible the Eastern
Partnership.
Euronest increases parliaments' collective leverage over topics
involving citizens and people-to-people contacts: mobility, business
opportunities, education, science and culture.
The number of cross border issues between the EU and its Eastern
Partners has grown; they now include conflict resolution and security,
trade, energy, climate changes, mobility of people. These issues
require parliamentary debate and monitoring, complementing
inter-governmental cooperation on the implementation of agreements
between the EU and Eastern Partners.
Enabling parliaments to speak together and convey consensual messages
helps to clarify political visions for the future, and to make current
policies stronger and benefit the people represented.
Since May 2009, a number of events have taken place to shape the
position of partner countries on participation in the Euronest
Parliamentary Assembly, in particular — the Joint Meeting of the
Representatives of the Parliamentary Committees of the Member States of
the EaP (Kyiv, May 18, 2009) organized by the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine. As a result of the meeting, Recommendations for the national
parliaments of the partner countries on possible participation in
Euronest were adopted.
In accordance with the provisions of this document, the main elements
of Ukraine's position on participation in Euronest are:
- Euronest is an additional platform for Ukraine's
cooperation with the European Parliament and the parliaments of partner
countries. The main bilateral format of parliamentary cooperation
between Ukraine and the EU is the Parliamentary Committee of the
Association;
- Euronest should ensure effective parliamentary
monitoring in order to support and develop the EaP;
- In its practice, Euronest should be guided by the
principles agreed in the framework of the EaP, namely: the principles
of differentiation, joint ownership and joint responsibility.
On 30 September 2009, the inaugural meeting of the EP Delegation to the
Euronest Parliamentary Assembly took place in Brussels, following which
the leadership of the Delegation was elected. K. Vigenina was elected
the head of the Delegation (political group «Progressive Alliance of
Socialists and Democrats» of the EP, Bulgaria).
The composition of the Ukrainian delegation to the Euronest PA was
formed in June 2010, which was announced to the EP during an extended
meeting of the Euronest PA Bureau on June 24, 2010 in Brussels. Borys
Tarasyuk, Chairman of the Committee on European Integration, was
elected as a Chairman of the Ukrainian delegation.
The multi-lateral format of Euronest creates a common experience of
democracy for MPs participating from countries in transition.