28 May, Bratislava, Slovakia
Assistance to
Parliaments of New Democracies
Seeing what a complicated road is being covered by the
civil societies towards their maturity in the EU neighbour countries, we
remember the difficulties Lithuania had to overcome in building and
strengthening its democratic institutions. Lithuania understands the challenges
EU neighbours are facing. We know only too well what it means to change
economic and ownership relations, to develop democratic values and solve social
problems at a time. It is a complicated process, which is proved by today’s
developments in Ukraine. We are keen on democratic changes taking place in
Eastern Europe and are committed to sharing our experience with those who need
it. Lithuania as the supporter of human rights and democracy is expanding its
activities year by year. It has an increasingly diverse range of projects and
covers broader geographic areas. That is one of the key tasks of its foreign
policy.
The Lithuanian Parliament perfectly understands its
role in spreading democracy towards the east therefore it has been developing
inter-parliamentary relations with the region and takes part in multilateral
regional fora. Last year saw us together with our supporters implementing the
first bilateral projects aimed at the exchange of experience with Georgia and
Moldova, and we have started a similar project for Ukraine. This is too little,
no doubt. Therefore the Parliament of Lithuania set up the Centre for
Parliamentary Cooperation and tasked it with offering favourable conditions to
the parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, the South Caucasus countries for
experience exchange with Lithuanian MPs and the Parliament staff. The events to
deal with such matters as parliamentary procedures, the status of the
opposition, the rule of law, parliamentary scrutiny over the enforcement of the
legislation, combating corruption, etc are being scheduled. Maximum note will
be taken of the priorities identified by the recipients. So far the “niche” of
cooperation between parties has not been filled, however it might turn out to
be an effective exercise. The new Centre might be engaged in the Twinning programme,
which beside other things, opens the door to EU funding.
We are ready to work together with other EU members. And
here IPEX comes in as a very handy instrument.
There is much sense in inviting the supported
countries individually and in groups for them not only to take over our
experience but to develop a dialogue among them too, which will lead to
stronger mutual confidence, needed for securing regional stability.
Belarus is an individual case. We
have already realised that the policy of isolation is not effective, and
maintaining ties with the opposition is not enough. The Lithuanian parliament
has set up a parliamentary group for relations with Belarus, as it believes we
must talk to lower levels of Belarus administration. We’ll look for possible forms
of dialogue.
Finally it’s high time we started
talking about our assistance to the Russian democracy in decline. EU members’
discourse with Russia’s democratic parties, which currently translates into the
“opposition” parties, and with the institutes of democratic forces, as well as
NGOs should be as intensive as possible and aimed at their unification. The
need for long-term continuous projects is evident – in case those structures do
not get EU assistance, they will simply cease to exist or the government will
act in their name but for its own purpose. The EU parliaments should play a
pivotal role in the field.
