November 25, 2022
LXVIII Plenary Meeting of COSAC (Nov 13 – Nov 15, 2022)
European Committees of EU parliaments call on national parliaments to recognise current Russia as a terrorist regime
From 13 to 15 November 2022, the largest parliamentary event of the Czech Presidency of the Council took place in Prague. Ondřej Benešík, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Czech Chamber of Deputies, and David Smoljak, a member of the Committee on EU Affairs of the Czech Senate, welcomed their colleagues from the European Parliament and from the European Committees of all EU Member States and candidate countries at the O2 Universum, including representatives of Ukraine and Moldova for the first time in the history of the COSAC.
“The topic of EU enlargement is not consensual. However, if a geopolitical vacuum is created in its neighbourhood, the enemies will come to fill it.” These were the words of Markéta Pekarová Adamová (TOP 09), Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, at the opening of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC). Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek (STAN) said that granting candidate status to Ukraine and certain other countries, especially from the Western Balkans, is a great commitment for Europe. “But it is also a geostrategic investment in peace, security and economic growth across Europe,” he noted. In his speech, he summarised the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU and said that the remaining weeks could prove the most challenging.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chairwoman of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the European Union, spoke on a panel on the current situation in Ukraine. More than three hundred participants also discussed, for example, the future of the EU with the Vice-President of the European Commission Věra Jourová or the strategic autonomy of the EU with the Vice-President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič and the Special Envoy for Energy Security Issues Václav Bartuška. Minister for European Affairs Mikuláš Bek presented the main priorities of the Czech Presidency of the Council and former Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek expressed his concern about the Union’s approach to the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership countries.
At the end of the two-day meeting, COSAC adopted initiatives addressed to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission and published in the Official Journal of the EU, in which, among other things, it strongly condemned Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine, expressed its dismay over and condemnation of Russia’s missile and kamikaze drone attacks on Ukraine aimed at killing civilians and destroying civilian and energy infrastructure, educational institutions and homes. The delegates declared these acts to be crimes against humanity and called on national parliaments to recognise the current Russian regime as a terrorist regime. COSAC also called for a special international criminal tribunal to be established along with an effective mechanism to allow the seizure of individual and national assets frozen as a result of EU sanctions, which would be used under the mechanism to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine by Russian aggression. The delegates also said that Russia should pay full reparations for the damage and harm caused to Ukraine.
The full Contribution of the LXVIII COSAC meeting is available here.
More information about the event can be found here.
