On day two of the visit, the Delegation met with the Chairperson of the Grand Committee Ms Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Finland Mr Timo Soini, as well as the Advisor to the Minister of Justice for EU coordination and international affairs Ms Eeva Aittoniemi.

The Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Finland Mr Timo Soini, a leader of the Finnish party that had shown most reservation during decision on Croatia’s membership, positively assessed the course of negotiations with Montenegro, with assurances that the party True Finns would be in favour of Montenegro’s EU accession if the majority citizens, fully informed on the Union, were for the membership. During the meeting, he pointed out that he was advocating the amendments to certain procedures in the functioning of the European Union, aimed at increased competencies of the national parliaments and the governments.

The Delegation was more closely informed on the procedure of adoption of positions on the decisions that need to be made at the European Union level, where the working bodies of the Parliament, and especially the Grand Committee, had their place, which, in the closing procedure adopted the opinion on the official position of Finland. The fact that the role of the Grand Committee of the Parliament was regulated by the Finnish Constitution showed that the state was an example of a strong parliamentary democracy. The interlocutors said that this kind of work system, in democratic sense, enabled a safe position during adoption of decisions at the Union level, because of the previous open discussions in the state, at multiple levels.

Interestingly, during the two-day visit, on several occasions the interlocutors pointed out that the preparation of regulations relating to the Union policy was a significantly more closed process than the one used in Finland, where they had more transparent procedures, i.e. more open to the citizens. Precisely because of that, they pointed out the importance of continuous informing of the public on functioning of the European Union and new policies affecting the daily lives of the citizens.

On day one of the visit, the Delegation met with the Prime Minister Mr Jyrki Katainen, the Vice President of the Parliament Mr Pekka Ravi, the Chairperson of the parliamentary Commerce Committee Mr Mauri Pekkarinen, as well as the representatives of the Department for Europe to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the Deputy General Director Mr Juha Ottman and the director Ms Päivi Laivola.

The Delegation of the Committee on European Integration consisted of the Chairperson of the Committee Mr Slaven Radunović, and the members Mr Srđa Popović and Mr Genci Nimanbegu.