European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments May 30-31, 2006 Tallinn, Estonia

European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments

Tallinn, Estonia

May 30-31, 2006

Theme I - “Bridge – building through Parliamentary Diplomacy”

Statement by Dr. Björn von Sydow,
Speaker of the Swedish Parliament

Dear Speakers, Dear Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce the first theme of our conference:

Bridge-building through Parliamentary Diplomacy. It is a boundlessly broad theme but nonetheless inspiring and timely. Those of us assembled here today - the Presidents of the Parliaments of the Council of Europe - constitute a most appropriate forum for discussion of this theme. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has been working for half a century to support new and transitional democracies. The results achieved by the Council of Europe in relation to the maintenance of human rights cannot be overestimated. Within the framework of the Assembly our parliamentarians have worked to strengthen the standing of national parliaments throughout the world. But they have also been inspired to press for progress on democratic issues outside institutional limits. Today we can see a development in which Parliamentary Diplomacy is assuming an increasingly important role.

We can all testify to a constant increase in the international contacts of our parliaments. In addition to the regular conferences and meetings, our interparliamentary assemblies are opening the doors for a broad range of different tasks for our parliamentarians. Over the years these organisations have attracted the unremitting commitment of our parliamentarians in networking and democracy-building activities. Our parliamentarians regularly serve as election monitors and take on assignments as special representatives for different countries or regions, or in connection with various conflicts. All of us here have our own examples of parliamentarians with special assignments.

Parliamentary Diplomacy is opening up a more flexible way of confronting these problems. At the same time, our parliamentarians have the freedom to make tougher demands in their international contacts than our governments' representatives are often able to do. At the party level, in particular, issues are often tackled across borders, sometimes in cooperation with sister parties in other countries. At the same time, the contributions of parliamentarians are often seen as a welcome supplement to the work of government representatives. This means that in international interactions we often see a dynamic kind of cooperation between opposition politicians and government representatives. Party-political differences take a back seat to the issue to be tackled or the problem to be resolved. As one of several examples I would especially like to mention the role of national parliaments in connection with the democratic development of the Baltic States. The contributions of individual parliaments played a great role in this, as for many years did the energising influence of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, NATO's Parliamentary Assembly as well as the Nordic Council.

A comprehensive effort to develop democracy is taking place on the initiative of individual parliaments, often in dynamic interaction with other parliaments. We support budding democracies in countries a long way away from our own continent in their endeavour to create smoothly working multi-party systems. We assist our new neighbours on their path to ongoing stable economic and democratic development. This is all very good! We shall continue with this work. But we need a greater exchange of information and clearer coordination of our contributions. For this reason I welcome the review that is under way among the EU presidents.

Our priorities are not set in a vacuum, but are influenced to a great degree by events in the world around us. In the spring, as a result of the ongoing discussion on our relations with the Muslim world, the Swedish Riksdag Committee on Foreign Affairs devoted a report to relations between the West and the Muslim world in the EU's immediate vicinity. In its report, the Committee emphasises the importance of mutual respect and tolerance, and greater understanding by way of a constructive cultural and religious dialogue. According to the Committee it is important for countries in the West to pursue an active foreign policy that can contribute to democratic development and greater respect for human rights in the region. A greater degree of democracy reduces the preconditions for and risks of terrorism and armed conflicts, which leads to greater international security. The Committee makes it clear that the Swedish Government needs to do more to promote dialogue with the Muslim countries. At the same time, the Committee emphasises that the Swedish Parliament should contribute to democratic dialogue as a supplement to the Government's policies. In this connection the democratic work of the parties is highlighted. In this way a door is being opened up for more proactive and energetic parliamentary diplomacy. It is a source of strength for us to have this firm grounding in our parliament when we now move ahead with the task of reinforcing contacts with the Muslim world. At the same time this gives us a major responsibility, since Parliament's role as a bridge-builder is taking on a central position in what must be said to be one of the biggest foreign policy issues of our day.

The task of scrutinising our governments applies just as much to international as to national policies. It is our duty to monitor international negotiations, ensure that agreements that have been concluded are incorporated into national legislation and subsequently observed. Particularly in relation to parliamentary links with the work of the UN we need to find ways of becoming more active and efficient. The results of our second world conference of Speakers in New York in September represent a step in the right direction. What we definitely don't need are new structures for closer cooperation with the UN! Setting up a new organisation - a kind of assembly of parliamentarians at the UN - is not a realistic solution. On the contrary, we need an effective way of securing the channels from New York directly into our national parliaments. One important step in the right direction has been our joint effort to increase the involvement by MPs from standing committees with relevant competence in inter-parliamentary meetings. In this connection I would like to emphasise the valuable role of the IPU in disseminating information and organising important conferences of parliamentarians in connection with meetings of the UN. Another natural step would be to ensure that parliamentarians are invited to form part of government delegations to the most important meetings of the UN.

To be able to strengthen the role of national parliaments in international cooperation, it must be worth the while of our parliamentarians to have active international commitments! In Sweden, a parliamentary election is approaching, and once again we are seeing a number of cases in which parliamentarians who are extraordinarily competent and profoundly committed in international issues have not been nominated by their parties. This is not unique to my country. You are all aware of the problem. International work must be more powerfully linked to national affairs - and to regional and local matters, too. The importance of the contributions made by individual parliamentarians outside their own country's borders must be highlighted and made visible at home, too. I regard this as a major challenge that lies ahead. And it is my sincere conviction that we can make progress here!

Today we already have a development where parliamentary diplomacy is regarded as one of the cornerstones of international cooperation. And all the evidence suggests that this is a trend that will continue to grow.

In conclusion, allow me to say a special thank you to our host and new presidential colleague Toomas Varek for his hospitality, and a hearty thank you to everyone at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe who has put so much effort into the preparations for our conference.

I am looking forward to hearing and benefiting from your views and experiences during the afternoon's discussions.