The XII meeting of the Conference of the Parliamentary Committees on European Integration/Affairs of the States Participating in the Stabilization and Association Process in South East Europe (COSAP) was held in Sarajevo today. The meeting was hosted by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the agenda covered topics such as: intensive economic development and progress towards the European Union, implications of the refugee crisis on the region and regional response to the global problem of terrorism. The Parliament of Montenegro was represented by members of the Committee on European Integration Ms Azra Jasavić and Mr Predrg Sekulić.

The meeting emphasised the need for regional and cross border cooperation for peace and stability in the region, better life of all citizens and speedier progress towards the fulfilment of the common foreign policy aim of all countries - the EU membership. Parliamentarians had an opportunity to learn about initiatives of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) related to the Western Balkans region. MP Mr Sekulić particularly emphasised that the rich energy potential and building of infrastructural objects should be a foundation for the regional development, and added that meeting standards of the EU lead towards better national standard and better quality of citizens’ life. The meeting stressed once again that the parliamentary oversight of activities carried out by countries which participated in regional processes and initiatives should be more efficient.

A wide-ranging discussion on the problem of terrorism which affected the whole world, including our region, underlined the importance of preventive actions as well as importance of de-radicalisation and fight against violent extremism. The participants supported the initiative for regional cooperation in preventing terrorism and fighting against smuggling weapons, which would include the cooperation of expert and intelligence services. MP Jasavić called for better coordination and strategic cooperation of police, intelligence services, prosecutorial offices and judiciary of the regional countries, for the purpose of exchanging information timely, following trends of problems development, acting preventively on its causes and punishing terrorist activities. They jointly concluded that the problem of terrorism must be discussed openly, because that was the only way to find the efficient regional and global response.

In the conversation about the current refugee crisis, a special attention was devoted to causes which led to mass migrant flows, the key of which included conflicts and poverty, as well as to expected development of the situation. Even though the region may not affect causes, it may contribute to mitigating consequences of the crisis. The countries must show solidarity and humanitarianism, provide protection to migrants with full respect of their basic human rights, strengthen their reception capacities, deployment and integration of migrants and fight against their smuggling. MP Jasavić reminded that all actors must undertake urgent and thoughtful steps, due to so-called domino effect among the countries in the whole Balkan route. They welcomed the agreement between the EU and Turkey, as well as cooperation of the EU and countries of the Balkan route, urging for even stronger efforts and support of the overall international community for the purpose of contributing to long-term solution of the problems.   

The meeting ended by adopting the joint declaration.