Baltic, Polish speakers want to deepen parliamentary cooperation to counter geopolitical threats

TALLINN - President of the Estonian parliament Juri Ratas and the speakers of the parliaments of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland issued a joint declaration at their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday declaring their willingness to deepen parliamentary cooperation between the four countries in response to geopolitical threats in order to keep the need to further support Ukraine on the agenda of international meetings.

The speakers underlined in the joint declaration that the present geopolitical situation, further complicated by Russia's imperialist pursuits in the post-Soviet area, constituted a major challenge to the European security system as well as a test of international solidarity and cooperation.

"Our countries present a very similar stance on fundamental issues pertaining to the construction of security in Europe as well as on the measures to be taken towards Russia. We continuously call for a strong and consistent sanctions policy, for political, military, humanitarian and economic support of Ukraine and for strengthening international efforts to end the conflict," they said.

The Baltic and Polish speakers attach great importance to the development of parliamentary diplomacy as a very valuable tool for implementing the foreign policy of their countries.

"Therefore, we declare our readiness and willingness to deepen parliamentary cooperation between our countries at various levels: parliamentary bureaus, sectoral committees and parliamentary groups," they said, adding that further strengthening of the parliamentary dimension of the Three Seas Initiative and the Crimean Platform would have a great potential in developing a strong voice of the parliaments.

"We strive to collectively influence the international community in order to keep the need to further support Ukraine, whose stability provides a crucial guarantee of security for Europe on the agenda," the speakers emphasized. "We will seek close cooperation in international parliamentary assemblies and organizations to ensure their effectiveness and respect for international law and international agreements."

The speakers added that they aimed to foster a permanent presence of parliaments in the international debate on strategic issues, to contribute to the measures taken by their governments and to strengthen cooperation between their countries.

The joint declaration is signed by Ratas, Edvards Smiltens from the parliament of Latvia, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen from the parliament of Lithuania and Elzbieta Witek from the parliament of Poland.