Parliamentary Dimension

In the framework of the Italian CEI Presidency, the Meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension under the title “Strengthening the local dimension of the Central European Initiative” took place in Trieste on 27-28 May at the premises of the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

On 1-3 April 2019, CEI Secretary General Roberto Antonione and a delegation of the CEI-Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES), including Alternate Secretary General Antal Nikoletti, Deputy Secretary General Zoran Jovanovic and senior officers, visited Poland and Belarus, and had meetings with high government officials of the two countries.

The meeting of the General Committee on Cultural Affairs of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension was held in Budapest on 29 March, under the leadership of Mr. Richard Horcsik, Chairperson of the Committee and Head of the Hungarian Delegation to the CEI Parliamentary Dimension.

On 4-6 March, CEI Secretary General Roberto Antonione and a delegation of the CEI-Executive Secretariat - including Deputy Secretary General Nina Kodelja and some senior officers - visited Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and had high-level meetings with government representatives.

On 19 February, CEI Secretary General Roberto Antonione and a delegation from the CEI-Executive Secretariat visited Slovenia. They met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Miro Cerar and the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Simona Leskovar, as well as with the President of the National Assembly of Slovenia, Dejan Židan, the Head and the members of the Slovene delegation to the CEI Parliamentary Dimension and the General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The meeting of the General Committee on Political and Home Affairs of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension was held on 11-12 February in Sofia, at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, under the leadership of Nikolay Aleksandrov, Chairperson of the Committee and Head of the Bulgarian Delegation to the CEI PD.

A delegation of the CEI-Executive Secretariat, led by Secretary General Roberto Antonione, including the Deputy Secretary General Nina Kodelja and some senior officers, visited Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia on 5-7 February and met with a number of high-level government representatives.

In the framework of the Croatian CEI Presidency, the Parliamentary Assembly of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension was held in Zagreb, Croatia, on 25-26 November, under the topic “Tourism Development and Local Community: How to Foster Sustainability?”.

The meeting of the General Committee on Economic Affairs of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension took place on 25 September gathering delegations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

Over 40 representatives from 15 parliaments of the CEI Member States gathered in Zagreb, on 14 May, to attend the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension held under the Croatian CEI Presidency.

The Meeting of the CEI-PD Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk on 28 November was held under the leadership of Irina Starovoitova, Chairperson of the CEI PD, and Head of the Parliamentary Delegation of Belarus and attended by national parliamentary delegations from Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Serbia. The participants witnessed an exchange of views on "Digital Technologies In Terms Of Ensuring Geopolitical Security".
 

The Meeting of the CEI PD Parliamentary Committee under the title "Intellectualization of economy in the CEI region: innovative production, governance and human capital" took place in Minsk on 29-31 May.
 

The Meeting of the CEI-PD Parliamentary Assembly took place in Sarajevo on 5-7 December. 
Participants exchanged views on the different strategies for preventing and combating terrorism in the light of the migration crisis, also beyond the CEI constituency.
 

The CEI - PD General Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Franc Trček (Slovenia),  and the Meeting of the CEI - PD General Committee on Political and Home Affairs, chaired by Tamara Blažina (Italy), were both held in Ljubljana on 10 October. The former focused in particular on "Energy Union on the Way to Greater Self-Sufficiency: CEI Perspective”, whereas the latter debated upon "The perspectives of European Union after Brexit, facing the migration crisis".
 

In the framework of the CEI Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension on „How to improve infrastructure of CEI Member States with special focus on transport and energy“, took place in Sarajevo on 31 May.

The meeting was chaired by Monika Tomić, member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 23 March 2016, Minister Igor Crnadak received a visit from Italian Senator Ludovico Sonego, head of the Italian Delegation to the CEI Parliamentary Assembly. The meeting was also attended by CEI National Coordinator of BiH, Ambassador Milos Prica and by the Italian Ambassador to BiH, Ruggero Corrias. Minister Crnadak informed about the current political situation in BiH and foreign policy priorities.

The event was organised within the CEI Parliamentary Dimension, which along with the Governmental and the Business Dimension, is positioned as one of the three pillars of the CEI. 

The meeting mainly focused on intercultural cooperation promoted by the CEI, with special attention to several best practices developed over the years and supported through CEI instruments, funds and networks. Topics such as interuniversity cooperation and management of linguistic and cultural minorities were debated upon, in line with the priorities of the current CEI Plan of Action.

In order to take stock of the various initiatives aimed at building the most important infrastructure networks in the area and on the path towards EU enlargement, the two General Committees - on Political and Home Affairs, and on Economic Affairs - of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension took place in Trieste on 9 November.