Three good pieces of news

The Assembly of the 27 member states has gathered again this week in a plenary session in Brussels (4-5 June) to discuss foreign policy issues, the fight against sexual exploitation in the run-up to the European Football Cup and the fight against counterfeiting. A debate that has also been attended by the executives of the EU Council and Commission was focussed on the Union for the Mediterrean which will be created during the summit of 13th July in Paris. Last week, instead, the European Parliament hosted three significant political events.Serbs and Kosovars at the same table. The Joint parliamentary Assembly for South East Europe met in Brussels on May 26-27: the meeting was attended by MEPs and Serb and Kosovar MPs who addressed the future of the Balk region, after the independence of Kosovo on February 17. All in all, it has been an opportunity of dialogue, with interesting prospects. Oliver Duliæ, Speaker of the Serb Parliament, stated: “I have no problems talking to my Albanian colleagues from Kosovo and will continue to have contacts with them: We must launch negotiations for a common future, because for me and people of my generation, and probably most of Serbs the reconciliation process between Serbs and Albanians is the most important regional event”. Also his colleague Jakup Krasniqi, Speaker of Kosovo’s Parliament, said: “We have a common future in the EU and therefore we can sit together and talk and discuss. We warmly accepted this European Parliament initiative and are confident that new perspectives have been opened for the countries of our region”. Dutch MEP Joost Lagendijk, who acted as Parliament’s rapporteur on the future of Kosovo, said that “after many years of denial now at least” Serbs and Kosovars “have had an open encounter and hopefully these contacts will continue at a domestic level”. Many issues have been tackled: socio-economic development of the region, immigration and visas, the role of national Parliaments in the regional integration process and Balkans-EU relations.Meeting between young Israelis and Palestinians. Twenty-one young European, Israeli and Palestinian political leaders attended on May 25-28 a meeting titled “Identity and Politics”, focused on diversity, cultural and civil integration issues. The initiative is part of the Intercultural Dialogue 2008 framework. This meeting has been according to Hans-Gert Poettering, EU Parliament president, “a unique opportunity to share political and personal experiences and establish interpersonal ties”. The young political leaders discussed among themselves and with MEP issues such as the value of reciprocal knowledge, sharing among cultures and traditions, building democracy, peace and respect for human rights. At the end of the meeting attendees drafted a common message stating that the political involvement of youngsters “is fundamental for the transformation of current conflicts” in the Middle East “into future peace”. “We are certain- the document states- that the experience of this meeting,” supported by the European Parliament ” is important in the peace building process efforts”. In Brussels, the youngsters shared “viewpoints and real life experiences”, hoping, to create building blocks of mutual trust and cooperation among future generations.Climate defence: a common commitment. Furthermore, we must mention the Energy Globe Awards, EU awards given to the best projects on climate protection and climate change. The ceremony (which involved “competitors” from 109 countries) was held on May 26 and was attended by leading Community Members, the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, the Indian actor Aamir Khan. Singers Dionne Warwick, Zucchero and Alanis Morissette preformed live during the gala. The following day the Parliament held a Conference on Sustainable Energy. For Kofi Annan, “climate change is a complex threat not only to environment”, that entails “other emergencies such as conflicts, poverty and terror,” with strong consequences on the world economy. According to Mr. Annan, however, “our personal and collective action can invert the negative trend”. The former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbaciov, today strongly committed in the environment, calls for a “new glasnost”, involving people, transparency and government mobilization”, For the speaker “the environmental crisis is today’s most important challenge: we live in a globalized world and thus must work together”.