Cracow, 15–16 January 2007
The European affairs committees of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, the Senate of the Czech Republic, the Hungarian National Assembly, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Slovak National Council jointly state that:
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unilateral trade restrictions should not be used for political aims,emphasising the need for solidarity among European Union Member States themselves and vis-a-vis third countries;
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the EU affairs committees of the Visegrad Countries encourage the Member States to manage the Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy in much more united way in order to achieve stability, prosperity and democracy in the neighbouring countries and call on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to speed up reforms to ensure the European perspective of the country;
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they emphasise the necessity of strong and long-term engagement of the EU in the cooperation with Ukraine, taking into account the role of this country in creating the stability and security in the region;
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considering the entrance of our Member States into the Schengen Area, the V4 EAC call on the European Commission and the Council to enable the lower visa cost policy for the citizens of the neigbouring countries including the citizens of Belarus and the Balkans in order to contribute to the openness and democratisation of their societies;
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express their deep concerns about the Georgian-Russian relations due to the recent developments, call upon the European Parliament, COSAC and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to conduct a debate without any delay and to present proposals to both countries in order to relaunch bilateral discussions on all levels;
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the Common European Energy Policy is more effective than individual actions of Member States and the new proposals of the European Commission will be examined carefully;
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welcome the efforts of Croatia in complying with the requirements of the EU membership and notwithstanding the outcome of the European debate on the Constitutional Treaty, urge Member States to seek an institutional solution needed to enlarge the EU by admitting new Member States, especially Croatia;
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call on committees to continue the subsidiarity check concerning individual legislative proposals and encourage the EU Presidency to foster the coordinatory role of the COSAC in order to enhance the capacity of parliamentary scrutiny in the Member States.
The participants authorize the Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee of the Sejm to forward the statement to the President of the European Parliament, the Chairman of the Presidency of the COSAC and the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as the Heads of the national and political party delegations in all mentioned parliamentary bodies.
Aiming at further development of the cooperation between respective European affairs committees of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the participants welcome the initiative of the Slovak delegation to host the next Meeting.
