Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Suljo Mustafić and MP Mr Dritan Abazović participated in the meetings of the Ad-hoc Working Group and Standing Committee of the South-East European Cooperation Process Parliamentary Assembly (SEECP PA), which were held in Tirana, in the period 16-18 April, within the Albanian presidency of this initiative.

At the meeting of the Working Group, the MPs and national coordinators from ten parliaments of the SEECP member states discussed the proposals for the budget and headquarters of the secretariat, aimed at harmonising the joint proposal for the Plenary Sitting of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly which will be held on 22 and 23 May in Tirana.

Prior to disclosing public position of delegation of the SEECP member states, it was pointed out that the Parliament of Montenegro, in accordance with the agreement from the previous meeting of the working group, was the only one that presented its public position at the agreed time, regarding the submitted proposals for the headquarters of the Secretariat of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly. At the meeting, Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro and a member of delegation Mr Suljo Mustafić repeated the position of the Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to the SEECP PA, that, out of two received candidacies for the headquarters of the Secretariat of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly, submitted by Bulgaria and Turkey, to have the headquarters in Sofia, or Istanbul, the Parliament of Montenegro supported the candidacy of the Great National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey.

In favour of proposal to have the headquarters in Istanbul were seven delegations of the following parliaments: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Turkey. The support to the Bulgarian proposal to have the headquarters in Sofia was given by two delegations of the parliaments of Bulgaria and Greece. The Parliament of Romania proposed to keep the rotating Secretariat, with support of the Network of National Coordinators, and without the establishment of an international secretariat.

During the discussion regarding the two proposed versions of the budget of the future Secretariat of SEECP, MP Mr Dritan Abazović pointed out that the issues of the budget and headquarters of the Secretariat must be considered as a package, having in mind multiple factors influencing the final outcome of the budget. He also pointed out the position of the Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to support the proposal for the budget presented by their colleagues from the Great National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey, according to which the national parliaments of the SEECP member states would not have the obligation to pay contributions in the following five years, if the Secretariat headquarters were in Istanbul, noting that after the five-year period, the operations of the Secretariat should be reviewed, and the budget amended if necessary.

Having in mind that the consensus on these two issues had not been reached, it was agreed that until 10 May, delegations of the parliaments of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Romani, after the achieved bilateral contacts, should officially express their positions and inform the other delegations on the reached agreement on the budget proposal as well as on the Secretariat headquarters.  

During the meeting of the Standing Committee, the conclusions from the meeting of the Working Group were considered, as well as resolutions and reports from the previously held meetings of the three general committees of the SEECP, proposals for amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the draft of the Final Declaration which will be on the agenda of the SEECP Plenary Sitting.