PA President Margareta Cederfelt (Sweden) spoke Tuesday at the Parliamentary Summit of the Crimea Platform in Zagreb, noting that every day, OSCE parliamentarians feel the suffering of millions of Ukrainians, and remain steadfast in their support for Ukraine and its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. “Since 2014, we have denounced Russia’s annexation of Crimea as a clear, gross, and uncorrected violation of the Helsinki Final Act,” Cederfelt said. “Our latest Declaration, adopted in July, the Birmingham Declaration, condemns in the strongest terms the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.”
On the sidelines of the summit, President Cederfelt held consultations with colleagues, discussing the best way forward to support Ukraine. Discussions were held with Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chair of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and with Othmar Karas, Vice-President of the European Parliament. In talks, Stefanchuk welcomed the OSCE PA’s Birmingham Declaration on continued support for Ukraine. Cederfelt and Karas discussed the importance of reinforcing complementarity between the European Parliament and the OSCE PA to ensure greater impact and avoid duplication of efforts.
The one-day summit, held for the purpose of increasing international pressure to promote the de-occupation of Crimea and its peaceful return to Ukraine, included the participation of dozens of speakers and deputy speakers of parliaments, as well as heads of inter-parliamentary assemblies, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and NATO PA.
Other OSCE PA Members in attendance included Ukrainian parliamentarian Yevheniia Kravchuk; Nikoloz Samkharadze, Head of the Georgian Delegation and Chair of the OSCE PA’s human rights committee; and Wolfgang Sobotka, Head of the Austrian Delegation and President of the National Council of Austria.
