Press Office
Athens, 2 June 2022
President of Hellenic Parliament opens Plenary Session of Parliamentary Assembly of South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP PA)
The President of the Hellenic Parliament stressed the special value of "jointly deliberating" while opening the 9th Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP PA), of which Greece has been holding the Chairmanship-in-Office (C-i-O) since July 2021. He pointed out that the value of inter-parliamentary cooperation is highlighted in turbulent times such as the present one, when a cruel war is being waged in the heart of Europe.
"The C-i-O of the SEECP PA has meant for us a responsibility to coordinate deliberations to the benefit of our 12 partners, within this initiative of peace and cooperation, at a time of escalating challenges in a part of the world that has time and again been tested by cetrifugal dynamics and fierce rivalries" said the President of the Parliament in his welcome address.
He also underlined that the SEECP, in its 25 years of operation, has proven a functional as well as productive forum of regional cooperation. "Strengthening SEE Synergies has been the motto of our C-i-O. Athens believed and focused on the added value of synergies between international and regional organisations, the public and private sector, the civil society and all actors in the social, economic and political sphere" said Mr Tassoulas.
The President of the Parliament also stressed that, aside from regional stability and energy security, a priority of the Athens CiO has been the joint tackling of immediate environmental and pandemic threats, the promotion of the Report on the Protection of Human Rights, especially the Vulnerable Groups by proposing a relevant Resolution.
"It is our ambition for the stronger footprint of the Athens CiO to be the consolidation of a common awareness that our region, this common home of ours, is not just a source of inspiration, but a place where a future of security and prosperity for all will be realised", emphasised Mr Tassoulas.
The President of the Hellenic Parliament also held bilateral meetings with Mrs Danijela Durović, the Speaker of the Parliament of Montenegro (Podgorica), which is assuming the Chairmanship for the next year, with Mr Talat Xhaferi, Speaker of the Parliament of North Macedonia (Skopje), as well as with his counterpart from Pristina Mr Glauk Konjufca.
