The President of the Nordic Council Karin Åström and the President of the Baltic Assembly and the Vice-President of the Riigikogu Laine Randjärv expressed their deep concern for the situation in Ukraine in the joint statement adopted at the Copenhagen summit.

“It is deeply disturbing that pressure continues to be applied against the citizens of Ukraine who are simply expressing their wish to join the European Union. This is a grave violation of civic freedom,” said Randjärv.

The annual summit of the Baltic assembly and the Nordic Council, held in Copenhagen on January 21–22, made a decision to create a joint cooperation network with the Vyshegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia). This will be similar to the cooperation of the Baltic Assembly with the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaizan and Moldova).

The summit decided to join forces in fighting human trafficking in the Baltic Sea region. One of the stated priorities of the cooperation is also the opening of the digital market in the region. It is also considered necessary to coordinate the positions of the NB8 countries more frequently in the European Union and the European Parliament.

The Nordic Council considers it important to maintain relations with Belarus, while the Baltic Assembly supports Ukraine and GUAM politicians through training programmes.

Joint Statement by the President of the Nordic Council and the President of the Baltic Assembly

The Riigikogu Press Service