President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr. Ranko Krivokapić participated at the First Summit of the Presidents of Parliaments of the Union for the Mediterranean, held in Marseilles.

During his speech, the President of the Parliament Mr. Ranko Krivokapić stated that political will was extremely important for strengthening of the stability of Mediterranean region, but also that it should be used for the purpose of eradicating prejudices that existed on both sides of the Mediterranean.

“Our historical knowledge is also full of prejudices, therefore we have to build our relations more on redefining the existing cultural patterns”, Mr. Krivokapić said.

He added that debate on multiculturalism was needed more then ever, because the challenges of economic crises threatened for prejudices to be misused, as people on Balkans felt in the recent past.

President Krivokapić emphasised that culture of coexistence had been build for centuries in Montenegro, due to what multiculturalism become one of the key features which make Montenegrin society stable, thus emitting strong stability messages on the region also. “That is the reason for us to be strongly dedicated to these values and to believe that debate on multiculturalism cannot die”, Mr. Krivokapić said.

President Krivokapić concluded by saying that everything possible should be done jointly so the Mediterranean became the sea of joint values, to what the Union for the Mediterranean can strongly contribute, while our parliaments have to be key places for long-term planning of perspectives of this region and cooperation in it as well.

The First Summit of the Presidents of Parliaments of the Union for the Mediterranean was opened by the President of the European Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union Parliament Mr. Martin Schulz, who emphasised that there was historical possibility for building strong Euro-Mediterranean community, and precondition for that was not to consider Mediterranean as a border of insecurity, but as a region where solidarity and cooperation should be developed.

In this region there are a number of challenges, such as: peace, climatic changes, security, provision of energy, education, therefore we have to build Mediterranean on closeness and complimentarily, in order to make it the most dynamic regions of the world, Schultz said.

He added that everything had to be done in order for the Union to establish relevant framework for dialogue on political and security issues, and there was no common responsibility for the decision-making without that.

Mr. Martin Schultz pointed out at the end to the fact that the representatives of 42 parliaments were present at the Summit, what indicated that parliaments would be a powerful ally in spreading the mission of strengthening cooperation in the Mediterranean region.

On the Summit margins, President Krivokapic met with the European Parliament President Mr. Martin Schultz, Commissioner for Enlargement Mr. Štefan Füle, President of the Romanian Parliament Mr. Valeriu Stefan Zgonea.

The Summit ended with the adoption of the Declaration by which the countries were invited to strengthen cooperation with the aim of promoting values of the Union for the Mediterranean.