International activities of the State Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
The members of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament are active in numerous supraregional, European and international bodies and represent the interests of the state there.
At European level, MEPs are represented in the Committee of the Regions (CoR) , the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) .
In the Baltic Sea region, the state parliament is involved both nationally and internationally. Within the framework of the Southern Baltic Parliament Forum and the partnerships with the Polish Sejmiks of the West Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships , topics relevant to the regions involved, such as environmental, transport, energy and tourism policy, are discussed.
The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference brings together parliaments and parliamentary organizations from the Baltic Sea region, including from important non-EU countries such as the Russian Federation . One of the main goals of the Baltic Sea parliamentarians is the sustainable ecological, social and economic development of the region. The state parliament is particularly active in this body. The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, represented by the President of the State Parliament, Sylvia Bretschneider, and her Finnish colleague Christina Gestrin, take on the observer mandate in the environmental organization HELCOM . In addition, MEP Jochen Schulte, together with his colleague Jörgen Pettersson from the Åland Islands, was appointed by the Baltic Sea Parliamentarians' Conference as maritime rapporteur to follow developments in the area of integrated maritime policy and to report on them.
The state parliament has also formed a German-Israeli parliamentary group and is a corporate member of the German-American association of state parliamentarians, the so-called partnership of parliaments (PdP).
background
The basis for the international activities of the state parliament is Article 11 of the state's constitution. It says about European integration and cross-border cooperation: "The state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is working within the scope of its responsibilities towards the goal of realizing European integration and promoting cross-border cooperation, especially in the Baltic Sea region."
Overview of international activities
Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference - BSPC
The state parliament is a member of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference . Currently, eleven national and regional parliaments as well as five parliamentary associations from the Baltic Sea region, including Russia, Norway, Iceland and Greenland, belong to the body. The chairmanship of the conference changes annually and is handed over to the next parliament during the annual conference. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania currently holds the chairmanship.
The conference serves to strengthen the common identity of the Baltic Sea region and promotes the discussion and the exchange of information between the parliaments involved and with other bodies and organizations at international and interregional level. Furthermore, the Baltic Sea parliamentarians take on common ecological, social and economic issues, initiate appropriate political measures and accompany them.
The representatives of the people meet once a year to formulate their demands on their own governments, the EU , the Baltic Sea Council and other actors in the Baltic Sea region. The BSPC Standing Committee prepares the conference together with the respective host country and monitors the implementation of the resolutions passed by the parliamentarians. In addition, the representatives deal with changing current topics in working groups, the findings of which are also included in the resolutions. The working groups usually fulfill their mandate for a period of two years. After the mandate of a working group has expired, the Standing Committee often appoints a rapporteur who follows developments in the subject area dealt with by the working group and reports regularly to the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference.
The state parliament is actively involved in these working groups. The MPs Wolfgang Waldmüller and Julian Barlen are members of the current working group “Innovations in Health and Social Services” (2013–2015), which was set up by the 22nd Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. In addition, MEPs Jochen Schulte and Jörgen Pettersson from the Åland Islands were commissioned as maritime rapporteurs to inform the BSPC about developments in the area of "Integrated Maritime Policy". Franz Thönnes , member of the Bundestag, is the rapporteur for the field of “Labor and Social Welfare”. In addition, the Baltic Sea Parliamentarians' Conference has appointed a rapporteur for “Civil Security and Human Trafficking”.
In 2002, the conference was granted observer status at the environmental organization HELCOM , which the President of the State Parliament, Sylvia Bretschneider , has held together with the Finnish MEP Christina Gestrin for the current assembly period 2014/2015 and which follows the key activities of the HELCOM committees.
The state parliament as a whole also deals with the resolutions of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference. To implement the resolutions, the MPs have so far regularly approved the resolutions with a resolution of the state parliament on the basis of a cross-party motion.
Southern Baltic Parliament Forum - PSO
In order to intensify the existing bilateral partnerships between the regional parliaments of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Schleswig-Holstein , the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Pomeranian Voivodeship , the Southern Baltic Sea Parliament Forum was launched in 2004 on the initiative of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament . Since then, parliamentary representatives of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , the Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship and the Regional Duma of the Kaliningrad Oblast have also joined the cross-border cooperation. The Swedish region of Skåne is also associated as an observer .
In its deliberations and working groups for the regions involved, the parliamentary forum also addresses important issues such as European funding policy, the maritime economy and energy or tourism policy. These regionally specific issues are discussed by the annual parliamentary forums and corresponding resolutions are passed by the MPs.
Every year the state parliament is represented at the parliamentary forums by a delegation of representatives. The delegation is regularly accompanied by experts previously proposed by the state parliament who support the Baltic Sea parliamentarians in their deliberations. Following the parliamentary forum, the state parliament deals with its demands and has so far regularly approved the respective resolution on the basis of a cross-party proposal.
Bilateral cooperation with the Sejmiks of the West Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships
The Southern Baltic Parliament Forum was also the result of previous bilateral cooperation between the State Parliament and the Sejmiks of the West Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships . In the meantime the joint parliamentary partnership has found its institutionalized form in this body. Nevertheless, there is still an exchange of views and information between the respective committees of the partner parliaments dealing with international affairs.
The cooperation was initiated at a parliamentarians' meeting from September 6th to 7th, 1996 in Krugsdorf, at which MPs from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, members of the European Parliament from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, representatives of the municipal community POMERANIA e. V., of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania district council e. V., members of the Sejmik of the Szczecin Voivodeship and representatives of the municipal association of the municipalities of West Pomerania met. In the joint resolution of Krugsdorf, the parliamentarians spoke out in favor of increased cooperation in border areas.
This resulted in a series of meetings between the State Parliament's Legal Committee and its corresponding committee for international and cross-border cooperation of the Sejmik of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. On September 14, 2001, the Sejmik of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania State Parliament signed a joint declaration on cooperation.
Poland's accession to the EU in May 2004 intensified parliamentary relations. Central common themes were the European funding policy, but also the perspectives of the youth in the now border-free region.
Also with the Sejmik of the Pomeranian Voivodeship a firm, cross-border partnership was agreed on October 14, 2004 with a joint declaration. These developments were taken up in October 2003 in Schwerin at a conference initiated by the President of the State Parliament, Sylvia Bretschneider , on the subject of “The Perspectives of Cross-Border Cooperation in the Southern Baltic Sea Region after the EU Eastern Enlargement”. Representatives of the parliaments of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Sejmiks of the West Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships took part. At the following event from April 25 to 27, 2004 in Gdansk, the Southern Baltic Parliament Forum was founded with the aim of networking the existing bilateral partnerships between the four regional parliaments more closely.
Committee of the Regions - CoR
The Committee of the Regions is an advisory body of the EU made up of representatives from local and regional authorities. Its members meet five times a year in Brussels for plenary sessions to discuss and develop opinions, reports and resolutions. For the first time in the 6th electoral term of the state parliament, the state will also be represented in the CoR by state parliament members, after members of the state government were seconded in the past.
Conference of Regional Legislative Assemblies - CALRE
The Conference of European Regional Legislative Parliaments is an association of European regional parliaments with legislative powers. The body currently has 74 parliaments, which together represent more than 200 million inhabitants. The main objective of CALRE is to strengthen the competencies and powers of regional parliaments in European decision-making processes.
The subsidiarity principle contained in the Treaty on the European Union is of decisive importance for the work of CALRE. Accordingly, the Union should not take any action as long as relevant tasks can be carried out more effectively at national, regional or local level. An important partner for CALRE is the Committee of the Regions, which as an institutional body has been granted special rights for local and regional affairs.
The President of the State Parliament, Ms. Sylvia Bretschneider , takes part in the annual conferences for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Changing working groups are set up for the thematic underpinning of work priorities and for the preparation of the content of the annual conferences. These currently deal with the subjects of "eDemocracy", "Gender equality - improving the participation of women in democracy", "Immigration", "Subsidiarity" and "Cohesion policy".
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe - CLRAE
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe was set up in 1994 as an advisory body to the Council of Europe. The CLRAE serves political actors from municipalities and regions as a forum for the exchange of information and experience and provides advice to the Council of Europe on questions of local and regional policy. The congress currently has 318 members from 47 countries. Germany has a total of 18 members, half of whom are nominated by the municipalities and half by the federal states. Since the Council of Europe also deals with issues such as health care or education, municipalities and regions have the opportunity to influence decisions that directly affect national competencies. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is represented by the MP Detlef Müller in the KGRE.
Partnership of Parliaments - PdP
The German-American Association of State Parliamentarians is a non-governmental, non-profit organization. It was founded in 1983 by members of parliament from all the state parliaments of what was then the Federal Republic of Germany. Its aim is to establish and maintain contacts and relationships between the German state parliaments and the parliaments of the American states and the Canadian provinces. The Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament is a corporate member of the partnership of parliaments. Members of the PdP, in addition to MPs and employees of the state parliaments, can be anyone who supports the goals of this organization. In addition, the state parliaments have the option of corporate membership.
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] . Article 11 of the constitution of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- ↑ Homepage "Partnership of the Parliaments eV"