Return to The Sejm Chronicle No 176
The Assembly of Deputies of the Polish Sejm and the Lithuanian Seimas, established on the strength of resolutions of the two parliaments, was held in Vilnius on July 2, 1997.
The Assembly is made up of forty deputies, twenty each from either country. The Polish delegation is composed of Sejm Deputy Marshal Olga Krzyżanowska as chair of the delegation and co-chair of the Assembly, Adam Dobroński as vice-chair of the Assembly, Henryk Bogdan, Mieczysław Czerniawski, Wojciech Grabałowski, Jan Król, Wit Majewski, Leszek Moczulski, Alicja Murynowicz, Irena Nowacka, Wiesław Opęchowski, Mirosław Pawlak, Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, Danuta Polak, Tadeusz Samborski, Lech Szymańczyk, Kazimierz Wilk, Jerzy Zdrada, Zbigniew Zysk and Władysław Żbikowski.
The Lithuanian co-chairman is Mieczys Laurinkus, chairman of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee.
President Algirdas Brazauskas addressed the Assembly, saying that "two states, two nations, two cultures and two histories are meeting again today in order to find and implement their national community in the history of Europe."
Seimas chairman Vytautas Landsbergis, who first came up with the initiative for the establishment of the Assembly, described his own idea as "a new Polish-Lithuanian European Union."
The Assembly is to convene twice a year and present its recommendations to both parliaments. (The next sitting if planned for the autumn in Warsaw). The Assembly has asked the governments of both countries to institutionalise their cooperation as well, by establishing the Intergovernmental Council of Poland and Lithuania.
At the initiative of the Polish side, a declaration passed by the Assembly stipulates that the Assembly should see to the observance of the rights of Poles in Lithuania and those of Lithuanians in Poland, "in keeping with European standards."
The deputies also issued an appeal to NATO and to the parliaments of European Union member states, urging their leaders "to declare unequivocally in Madrid that Lithuania and the other Baltic states are engaged in the process of enlargement of the Alliance and to support their strivings and adjustment efforts."
The Assembly adopted its Statute and passed:
1. A Declaration of the Assembly of Deputies of the Polish Sejm and the Lithuanian Seimas,
2. Resolution (No. 1) addressed to the people of Poland and Lithuania,
3. Resolution (No. 2) - An Appeal to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the parliaments of member states of the European Union.
On July 4, 1997, Sejm Marshal Józef Zych met with former chairman of Lithuania's Seimas Ceslovas Jursenas. They talked about the first sitting of the Polish-Lithuanian Assembly of Deputies in Vilnius and about cooperation between the two countries within the Baltic Council.
On July 4, Sejm Marshal Józef Zych received Oleksandr Moroz, chairman of the Supreme Council of Ukraine.
The main topic of the meeting were issues related to the proposal for a conference on organised crime, to be attended by representatives of the parliaments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Russia and Slovakia; the idea was advanced during a meeting between the chairman of the European Parliament and the chairmen of parliaments of the countries of East-Central Europe. Zych asked Moroz to keep monitoring the developments surrounding the Polish cemetery in Lvov. The two parliamentary leaders also talked about the current political situation in Poland, with parliamentary elections in sight.
"We are glad to be hosting the 6th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and are doing all we can to make sure that it proceeds in the best atmosphere possible," Zych said. He added that Poland was actively involved in the work of OSCE, which it regarded as an important element of the European security process. Zych said Poland wanted to keep the Bureau of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw and to host a new OSCE agency, the Commissioner for the Freedom of the Media.
"I would like to thank you for the splendid cooperation in organising the Parliamentary Assembly session and I am convinced that this will contribute to its success," said Ruperez. He declared that NATO and OSCE were two organisations playing the biggest role in the building of European security.
Seleznev stressed the significance Russia attached to the subjects discussed at the Warsaw Assembly.
Zych said he assessed very highly the state of Polish-Israeli relations in all areas.
Chazan said that the Israeli authorities accepted with gratitude the moves of the Polish authorities aimed at commemorating the role of Jews in Poland's history and the martyrdom of the Jewish people during World War II; she also thanked for Poland's support for the Middle East peace process.
Rita Suessmuth informed the Sejm Marshal about the Polish-German youth meeting which is to be held in Wroclaw next year.
Zych and Suessmuth also talked about the importance of the enlargement of NATO and the European Union for the peace process in Europe. The Bundestag chairperson was interested in the way the work of the Polish parliament is reported by radio and television.
The main topic were Poland's preparations for participation in European structures and the role of parliament in this process. Both sides pointed to the importance of acquainting the society with all the issues relating to integration.
Ms. Uosukainen spoke with appreciation about the organisation of the Warsaw sitting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
Khalilov said his country was attentively following the transformations taking place in Poland and Poland's international activity; "we fully support your strivings for admission to European structures," he added.
He thanked Poland for being the first country in the world to recognise independent Uzbekistan.
Marshal Zych said that Poland was interested in democratic processes in Central Asia, a region with a future, for political as well as economic reasons.
Zych told his visitor that Poland saw parliamentary cooperation as "an important pillar of bilateral relations, all the more so as the two countries have he same strategic goal, that of joining NATO and the EU." He added that the evolution of the situation in the wake of the presidential and parliamentary elections opened up new prospects before Bulgaria.
Sokolov thanked for the Polish grain loan to Bulgaria of last winter.
Zych observed during the meeting that "many recent developments in Belarus have aroused the anxiety of the Polish authorities and the society at large." He also voiced the hope that the constitutional crisis would be resolved on the basis of democratic principles.
The main topic of the exchange was the conflict in the Dnestr area, its origins and ways of resolving it.
Sejm Deputy Marshal Aleksander Małachowski met on July 5 with Kolbaia Vakhtang, deputy chairman of the Georgian Parliament.
Vakhtang said that "Georgia is a country that can generate friendly neighbourliness in the geopolitical aspect," adding that global trends and political processed favoured a Polish- Georgian rapprochement.
"We support the admission of Georgia and other countries of the Caucasus region to the Council of Europe because this will enhance their independence," Małachowski told his visitor.
On July 15, Deputy Marshal Aleksander Małachowski received a delegation from the Japanese-Polish Friendship Group at the Japanese House of Councillors.
On July 17, Sejm Deputy Marshal Olga Krzyżanowska met with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Poland, Antanas Valionis, who was accompanied by Mieczys Laurinkus, chairman of the Seimas' Foreign Affairs Committee and co- chairman of the Polish-Lithuanian Assembly of Deputies.
The visitors informed the Sejm about humanitarian and technical assistance granted by their country to the victims of the floods in southern Poland. Olga Krzyżanowska thanked for the assistance on behalf of the flood victims and the Sejm.
On July 21, Sejm Marshal Józef Zych paid an official visit to Norway.
He met with Storting chairperson Kirsti Kolle Grondahl and with finance minister Jens Stoltenberg.
The talks concerned Norwegian aid for the flood victims in Poland, problems connected with parliamentary cooperation and the enlargement of NATO. K.K. Grondahl said the Storting would support Poland's admission to the Alliance.
On July 8, Sejm Marshal Józef Zych received Yuri Tikhomirov, first deputy director of the Russian Government's Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law.
On July 16, Deputy Marshal Aleksander Małachowski received Laotian Ambassador Kideng Thammavong, who paid him a farewell visit on the completion of his tour of duty in Poland.
On the same day, Małachowski received a relegation from the Chamber of Republics of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia, led by its chairman Srdja Bozovic.