The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (Euronest PA)

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.