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EURONEST PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMENTAIRE EURONEST

PARLAMENTARISCHE VERSAMMLUNG EURONEST

ПАРЛАМЕНТСКАЯ AССАМБЛЕЯ ЕВРОНЕСТ

Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and DemocracyCommittee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society

NEST_PV(2017)0323

MINUTESof the joint meeting of 23 March 2017

Brussels

The meeting was opened on 23 March 2017, at 9.30 am, with the Social Affairs’ Committee(SOC) Co-Chairs Mr Georgi PIRINSKI (European Parliament) and Ms MalahatIBRAHIMGIZI (Azerbaijan) and Political Affairs’ Committee (POL) Co-Chair Mr BorysTARASYUK (Ukraine) and Vice-Co-Chair Ms Kati PIRI (European Parliament) in the chair.

In his introductory remarks, SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI recalled the Euronest plenarysession one year ago, when Brussels was hit by terrorist attacks, and expressed his concernsover the attack in London one day prior to the joint meeting. He then went on to encourageeveryone to help build a free, democratic and peaceful space in Europe and beyond, andexpressed his confidence that the exchanges of this meeting would reflect this ambition. Healso invited all the participants to attend the conference in the afternoon co-organised by theEuropean Parliament Delegation to the Euronest PA and the Open Society Foundations, anddedicated to anti-discrimination policies, justice sector reform, and the fight against corruption,in the frame of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and the association agendas of Georgia, Moldovaand Ukraine.

1. Adoption of draft agenda

The draft agenda was adopted as tabled.

2. Election of the Eastern Component’s Vice-Co-Chair of the Euronest PACommittee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society.

Members elected by acclamation Mr Beka NATSVLISHVILI (Georgia) as Vice-Co-Chair ofthe Euronest PA Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society (SOC).SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI then gave the floor to Mr NATSVLISHVILI, for a shortintroduction.

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Mr NATSVLISHVILI first expressed his deep sympathy to the families of victims of theterrorist attack in London one day before. He then expressed his gratitude to everyone for theconfidence placed in him to act as the Eastern Component’s Vice-Co-Chair for the Committeeon Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society. He then briefly introduced himself, andnoted that due to his experience and interest in the field of labour and industrial relations hewished to highlight this topic in the future and hoped for cooperation with everyone.

3. Approval of minutes of the joint meeting of the Euronest Committee on PoliticalAffairs, Human Rights and Democracy and the Committee on Social Affairs,Education, Culture and Civil Society of 31 October, 2016 in Kiev.

The minutes of the joint meetings of the POL and SOC Committees held on 31 October 2016in Kyiv were approved as tabled.

4. Exchange of views on the protection of women rights, the promotion of genderbalance and the access of women to labour market in the Eastern Europeanpartners.

SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI recalled the occasion of the International Women’s Day twoweeks prior to the meeting, when the European Parliament held a series of debates, dealing withthe transformation of gender roles and the women’s economic empowerment and employmentin the European Union. From those events, he drew the conclusion that in the area of equaltreatment of women and men in the labour market, much remains to be done, and encouragedthe members to further work on legislation together.

- Presentations by Mr Mikael ERBS-JORGENSEN, Policy Analyst, EuropeanCommission, DG NEAR and Ms Yuliya MITSKEVICH, Coordinator of theBelarussian Sub-Group on gender issues, Eastern Partnership Civil Society ForumGroup

In his presentation, Mr Mikael ERBS-JORGENSEN touched upon the protection of womenrights, the promotion of gender and the access of women to the labour market in the EasternEuropean partners. He first underlined that the EU European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) putsa high focus on gender equality, and gives particular attention to enhancing women’sparticipation in the economy and to strengthening support for women’s rights. He alsomentioned that fighting gender inequality is acknowledged as an important element to preventradicalisation, including terrorism. He assured that the ENP together with the EU GenderAction Plan for 2016-2020 (GAP II) is a good framework that will ensure this being translatedinto action. Mr ERBS-JORGENSEN highlighted that non-discrimination, gender equality anddevelopment for both women and men is a crosscutting issue in all EU financial support, andis identified as such in the 2020 deliverables to ensure the full outreach to societies within thepartner countries. He further clarified that the Commission continues to support initiatives forgender equality and to provide support to the thematic areas of the GAP II through the EuropeanNeighbourhood Instrument (ENI).

Mr ERBS-JORGENSEN then identified some of the common issues on the situation ofwomen in partner countries that the EU financial assistance addresses in particular: the highlevel of violence against women, the significant gender pay gaps, and the low representation of

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women in political and economic life. He also expressed his interest in the SOC Committee’sreports on situation of women in partner countries, and indicated his intention to share themwithin DG NEAR. Mr ERBS-JORGENSEN noted the financial assistance packages for theProgrammatic Collaboration Framework under the Council of Europe at the regional level, andfor the ‘Women in Business’ programme – to which 30 million and 54 million Euros areearmarked respectively. He then gave some bilateral examples of the financial assistance in theareas of entrepreneurship, business and agriculture. He highlighted that the financial assistancealso had a positive impact in halting economic migration, through empowering women ineconomic terms. He also emphasised gender equality, as a crosscutting issue, to be one of thebest ways to unlock economic growth in both the EU and partner countries.

SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI emphasized the importance of the point that Mr ERBS-JORGENSEN raised – translating words into action. He then gave the floor to Ms YuliyaMITSKEVICH to provide an overview of women’s education, social equality, and genderbalance in Belarus.

Ms MITSKEVICH firstly pointed out that her presentation would encompass all partnercountries, not only Belarus. She thanked Mr ERBS-JORGENSEN for his presentation, andhighlighted that she would like to take a closer look at GAP II, together with her colleaguesrepresenting partner countries, and to try to implement it jointly. She also pointed out that someplans drafted by partner countries sometimes do not reflect the reality in terms of genderequality.

She then referred to the following Gender Gap Index figures of the World Economic Forum2016, regarding the six partner countries out of the 144 evaluated: Moldova – 26; Belarus – 30;Ukraine – 69; Azerbaijan – 86; Georgia – 90; and Armenia – 102. Ms MITSKEVICH drewthe conclusion that, according to the Gender Gap Index (2016), partner countries rank fairlylow, except for Belarus and Moldova. She pointed out that these rankings reflect governmentstatistics rather than reality, referring to Belarus in particular ranking at number 30. She furtherelaborated that Belarus has a 37% quota for women in the Parliament of Belarus, which doesnot reflect a genuine election process, as they are appointed to these positions. She thenhighlighted in kind that government reports on domestic violence also do not reflect the realsituation in Belarus, which she referred to as very sad. She noted that there are various indicatorsthat also do not reflect the high ranking of Moldova in the Gender Gap Index, referring to thedata of the Centre for Development in Moldova. She then remarked that the statistics producedby women’s organisations reflect gender inequality in partner countries more fairly.

Ms MITSKEVICH highlighted the common issue in partner countries to be the low level ofwomen involvement in politics, which she said to be 10-15% at most, in comparison to othercountries. She further highlighted that women are also not involved in negotiations to resolvemilitary conflicts, and to reach peaceful solutions. She then referred to the UN Security CouncilResolution on the importance of women in decision-making, emphasizing that peacefulagreements involving women have a 35% higher probability of remaining in place for a periodof ten years. She pointed out that in the case of Ukraine, the negotiations on the MinskAgreements did not involve women representing the countries in conflict.

Ms MITSKEVICH emphasized the widespread discrimination of women in partner countries.She referred to legislation to counter domestic violence, which in the case of Belarus had beenpropounded for over ten years and is yet to be enacted, as the bill encountered many obstacles

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notwithstanding the worrying statistics on domestic violence. She underlined the importance ofthe response of the international community, pointing out that international experts backingofficial government positions may negatively impact the work of NGOs on gender. She addedthat this is the case in Belarus, where government policy claims that gender equality has beenachieved and this is not a problem to be addressed. Ms MITSKEVICH drew attention to theissue of gender equality being regarded by both government institutions and many NGOs as anarrow topic on its own and unrelated to the universal human rights. She urged to promotegender mainstreaming, and to consider gender issues to be directly related to human rights andtheir violation, and push gender equality higher on the agenda, as it is a priority issue.

SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI expressed his conviction that this set of issues deservesconsiderable attention in all efforts of the Euronest PA, as well as more discussion.

- Presentation by Social Affairs Committee Co-Rapporteurs Ms Maria GRAPINI,MEP and Ms Natalia VESELOVA, MP, Ukraine on the Committee’s report on“The situation of women in the labour market in the Eastern European Partnercountries”

SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms GRAPINI congratulated Ms MITSKEVICH for her informativepresentation. She also sustained the point reiterated in previous presentations about thedifficulty of translating words into action, recalling her experience in the business and non-governmental sectors. She then presented the on-going draft report of the Committee,expressing her belief that it is comprehensive and balanced, and pointing out there was no needfor lengthy reporting, but rather concise reports encompassing the essentials. She also expressedher hope that the report would have a positive impact.

SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms GRAPINI highlighted the report’s priorities. First, she put forwardthe issue of the recognition of gender equality, which is underlined in the report as afundamental value and an objective of cooperation between partner countries. She expressedthe conviction of the Co-Rapporteurs that a political stimulus is necessary to promote genderequality and that it should be part of the political priorities of partner countries, highlightinggender balance in particular. She also expressed her belief that the EU should do more in helpingits partners implement their commitments, in accordance with their national objectives andstrategies, including offering expertise and promoting improved participation of women in thelabour market and in decision-making. She indicated that the implementation of various actionplans and strategies under the Eastern Partnership should be monitored with annual reportingpresented in the national parliaments.

SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms GRAPINI was of the opinion that it is important to collectharmonised data, regarding the situation of women in partner countries by introducing thegender equality index. She added that economic independence, equal pay for equal work orwork of equal value should be recognised as priorities and common principles. She thenhighlighted that it is essential to also increase investment support in employment of women inquality work. She underlined sectors and positions where women are underrepresented inparticular, such as modern technology and technical fields, rather than services considered tobe traditionally occupied by women. She recalled the POL-SOC joint meeting last fall in Kyivand reiterated the point she had made there, saying that there are EU ambassadors ofentrepreneur women that could offer mentorship to women entrepreneurs in partner countries,and that the EU should support this.

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SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms GRAPINI noted that Roma women should also be at the centre offocus, in terms of discrimination and gender issues, as they are especially discriminated against,due to both their gender and their belonging to an ethnic group. In her conclusion, she pointedout that women in general should be protected against stereotyping by family and society,including subordination to men and exclusively caring for children, which is especiallyprevalent in more rural areas and traditionally conservative cultures. She also suggested takingmore drastic measures through education for children to fight sexual discrimination from anearly age.

SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms VESELOVA took the floor to continue the presentation of the draftreport. First, she expressed her gratitude to Ms GRAPINI for fruitful cooperation over thereport and expressed her hope that the discussion and follow-up on this topic will beinstrumental to partner countries and EU Member States in developing effective approaches toresolving these issues and avoiding discrimination in social equality.

SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms VESELOVA noted that the position of women in the labour marketis a major global problem, with unemployment and gender discrimination having far-reachingnegative implications. She added that this situation not only has a negative impact on theeconomy, but it also prevents country growth and development, and urged the members tohighlight the importance of the topic. She indicated that women’s labour appears to be lesscompetitive than that of men and women are more often faced with unemployment than men.It also requires additional social costs putting employees at a disadvantage, and most of itremains unrecognized and not paid for, particularly domestic labour. Ms VESELOVAhighlighted that women’s opportunities are more restricted compared to those of men, and thishas negative implications for women’s status in society, where the gender factor is frequentlyignored in policies and development. She pointed out that the important issue in both EaPcountries and the EU is labour migration, because women workers receive lower pay, areexposed to discrimination and exploitation, and find it difficult to obtain permanent residencyand proper access to social and medical security services. She concluded by raising theimportance of establishing effective mechanisms to promote access of women to powerinstruments, including legislation on equal rights and possibilities.

During the discussion, POL Co-Chair Mr TARASYUK and Mr Vitalii KORCHYK(Ukraine) noted that there are women who play active roles in peaceful settlements in Ukraine,for instance: Ms Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, alsoserving as Urkrainian President's Humanitarian Envoy at the Minsk peace talks; Ms MariaIonova, Acting Head of the European Integration Committee of the Verkhovna Rada,coordinating the humanitarian programmes for Donbas; Ms Olga Aivazovska, civil societyrepresentative, participating as an expert in the political group of the Minsk process. In turn,Ms MITSKEVICH clarified that for her presentation she used the national plan of action toimplement the UN Resolution 1325 as her foundation, and it did not contain information aboutwomen’s participation in peace-making processes. She also mentioned that she is aware ofwomen in Ukraine playing significant roles in the conflict, noting women organisations inparticular.

Ms Heidi HAUTALA (EP) emphasized the importance of the report’s paragraph 28 – the needto increase the number of women in the decision-making process, primarily at the political level– calling it the basis of everything. Ms Guguli MAGRADZE (Georgia) drew attention to theneed to also underline STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education for

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women, and to develop programmes for assisting women in business, especially in medium andlarge enterprises.

The Members agreed that there is a need to improve gender equality in both partner countriesand EU Member States, and that this subject matter is very topical. They also emphasised theimportance of tackling the issue of the lists of banned professions for women in partnercountries, to which SOC Co-Rapporteur Ms GRAPINI responded by assuring that the reportcontains this topic. She also agreed with the point some members raised that lack of childcareinstitutions is a condition for women to participate in the labour market, although it is notmentioned specifically in the report. Several members expressed their wish to tableamendments with their input to the report, referring to concepts of maternal, paternal andparental leaves, with a view to improving it further.

SOC Co-Chair Mr PIRINSKI announced the deadline for tabling amendments to be 7th

September 2017, on 18h00 (Brussels time).

5. Exchange of views on the situation of and prospects for media freedom,independence and integrity in the EU and Eastern European partners.

POL Vice-Co-Chair Ms PIRI reminded the participants that freedom of expression is thecornerstone of democracy, and the access to independent information and free media is afundamental right of all citizens. She also pointed to some current challenges in the field ofmedia: weakening of critical journalism, attempts to jeopardise legal frameworks for mediafreedom and the independence of public broadcasting, and disinformation warfare. POL Co-Chair Mr TARARYUK invited POL Co-Rapporteurs to present the on-going draft report ofthe Committee.

- Presentation by Political Affairs Committee Co-Rapporteurs Ms Tanja FAJON,MEP and Mr Rasim MUSABEYOV, MP, Azerbaijan on the Committee’s draftreport on “Ensuring media freedom and integrity in the EU and Eastern Europeanpartners”.

POL Co-Rapporteur Ms FAJON first thanked her POL Co-Rapporteur MrMUSABEYOV for good cooperation in producing a very balanced report that covers all majorchallenges related to the media in both the partner countries and EU Member States. Sheclarified that, as those countries face different levels of challenges of media freedom andtransparency, the Co-Rapporteurs decided to focus on more general principles behind mediadynamics, rather than taking the country-by-country approach. She also noted that the reportfocuses mostly on: media legislation, ownership and transparency, and their present limits, aswell as challenges brought about by new media – digitalisation and internet.

POL Co-Rapporteur Ms FAJON emphasized, in addition to the point made by POL Vice-Co-Chair Ms PIRI, the importance of media quality today, in times of rising populism, hatespeech, and the so-called “fake news”. She further highlighted that the most important andcommon challenge today is fighting lies and distorted truths together. In order to tackle this,she suggested the need to elevate the level of professional and investigative journalism, toexchange good practises, to prevent attacks on journalists and to ensure their fair trial, and todevelop professional ethics in quality mass media. She also underlined the importance of being

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vocal on irregularities, and enabling such an environment in partner countries and EU MemberStates to empower citizens to express their opinions without fearing the consequences.

POL Co-Rapporteur Mr MUSABEYOV drew attention to another important component ofthe report – media responsibility, and not solely media freedom. He pointed out that especiallywith the rise of new media, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor the type of messagesthat are sent and that tend to reach large audiences. He gave the example of bloggers in thisregard, noting that it is easy to register as one and to have the freedom to publish with littleaccountability involved.

- Presentations by Mr Matthijs BERMAN, Principal Adviser, Office of the OSCERepresentative on Freedom of the Media, Mr Azer HASRET, Chairman, CentralAsian and Southern Caucasian Freedom of Expression Network and Mr BorisNAVASARDIAN, President of Yerevan Press Club and Coordinator of ArmenianNational Platform, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.

Mr BERMAN remarked that the report presented is very welcome and timely, especially asmedia freedom within the OSCE area appears to be regressing, due to the striking differencesbetween its members. He then proceeded to highlight three issues: freedom, safety, andpluralism.

Speaking on freedom, he noted that authorities tend to arrest journalists for chargesconveniently unrelated to media activity, giving the example of journalist Afgan Sadigovconvicted in Azerbaijan this year. He also pointed out other powerful tools against dissentingmedia, such as laws criminalising defamation, which are present in many countries, includingseveral EU Member States, whereas defamation is decriminalised in partner countries. MrBERMAN suggested some EU Member States could learn from their Eastern Europeanpartners, recalling that the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media had been pleadingin favour of decriminalising defamation for years, and that the European Court on HumanRights is of the same opinion. He then invited Members to show initiative and exert theirpolitical pressure to make decriminalising defamation a priority. Continuing on the tools againstdissenting media, he underlined that censorship is not the way forward, even upon encounteringwhat may appear to be disinformation and propaganda, referring to laws on blocking websitesin Denmark and Ukraine, and Moldova shutting down the TV channel “Russia 24” in May2016. In agreement to the point made by POL Co-Rapporteur Ms FAJON, he pointed outthat instead of curtailing freedom of expression to tackle fake news, governments should fosterquality journalism, support self-regulation efforts by media professionals, debunk fake news ina factual and neutral way, and support efforts to increase media literacy among the public. Headded that media freedom is also affected by counter-terrorism legislation, and the current EUdraft copyright directive.

On safety, Mr BERMAN listed common methods that are used to silence journalists: murder– recalling the death of journalist Pavel Sheremet –, harassment, threats, and intimidation. Heremarked that the latter three affect female journalists more often than men, and raised the issueof online safety, for women in particular, reiterating the point of Ms MITSKEVICH thatgender issues are human rights issues. He then urged members to pressure their governmentsand law enforcement bodies to potentially enter a dialogue with media professionals and to takethis issue more seriously.

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On pluralism, Mr BERMAN noted that with new media close to dominating the advertisementmarket, due to their increasing technological capacity, “older” media is forced to find newbusiness models, local print media is disappearing, and concentration of media ownership is astrong trend in the developed world. He remarked that the EU is well aware of this challengeto pluralism – the capacity of media to hold government to account, with local media havingdifficulties surviving without advertisements of the public authorities in several EU MemberStates. He also underlined that a worrisome tendency of politics intervening in publicbroadcasting seems to be appearing, referring to examples in Poland and Hungary, whichimpacts all vulnerable groups in society independent from economic pressure.

Mr NAVASARDIAN first stressed that, since the launch of the Eastern Partnership in 2009,the heterogeneity in the region had not declined and even appears to have increased. He referredto the rankings of Freedom House: Georgia – 49, Ukraine – 53, Moldova – 56, and thesecountries are “fairly free” compared to the remaining partner countries that are ranked as “notfree”; Armenia – 64, Azerbaijan – 89, and Belarus – 91. He expressed his concern over thisranking being especially alarming, as all partner countries declined in their ranking since 2015,which Freedom House considered to be worst in the history of ranking since 1980.

As a representative of the Civil Society Forum, Mr NAVASARDIAN pointed out that theForum keeps the situation of media in the region in the focus of its attention with a WorkingSub-Group on Media established since 2009, uniting around 50 organisations. He indicated thatthe sub-group had created a Media Freedom Index for partner countries, which allows toexchange experiences, and to follow the dynamics with the freedom of media in this region. Healso reiterated the common issues specified by Co-Rapporteurs, regarding the state of media inthe Eastern European region: the economic situation and media ownership, political bias inpublic broadcasting, harassment and jailing of journalists, external propaganda and its influenceon weak local media. Mr NAVASARDIAN also noted the efforts of the Civil Society Forumto find a consistent solution to concerns over the future of the independent channel “Belsat TV”broadcasted in Belarus from Poland, and many other media in the region. He then reiterated thepoint made by the Co-Rapporteurs that stronger efforts are necessary to develop quality mediain the region.

Mr HASRET started by expressing his surprise, regarding the point made by Mr BERMAN,about the imprisonment of Afgan Sadigov, and claimed that neither he nor the MPs fromAzerbaijan are aware of this person, but he assured to deal with the issue upon his return toAzerbaijan. On the same note, he indicated his efforts in appealing to the government ofAzerbaijan to release the blogger Mehman Huseynov on the grounds of his lack ofunderstanding of the issues of freedom of expression. He then noted that Azerbaijan is free tooutlaw international media broadcasting inside its borders, referring to “Radio Liberty” inparticular. He also touched upon the topic of gender balance, expressing his view that the mostinfluential media outlet in Azerbaijan – Azeri Press Agency (APA) – is headed by a woman.Mr HASRET also noted the case of three Armenian journalists finding refuge in Azerbaijan,in his view, due to the lack of freedom of expression in Armenia. He then indicated, in responseto the point made by Mr NAVASARDIAN, the difference between public and statebroadcasting in Azerbaijan – public broadcasting has wide coverage of ethnic minority issues.He concluded on reiterating the importance of media ethics and responsibility.

During the discussion that followed, several members of the Georgian Delegation elaboratedon and raised the importance of the case of the TV channel “Rustavi 2” in Georgia, and hopedfor continuing EU support to resolve it. They proposed, on the point of tackling external –

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especially Russian – propaganda, having nation-wide media channels advocating a very clearpro-EU agenda, as a best practise. Mr KORCHYK (Ukraine), in response to a point made byMr BERMAN, noted that censoring Russian propaganda is part of the hybrid warfare inUkraine today, and hoped for the participants’ understanding, regarding the defence strategy ofthe country.

Euronest PA Co-President Mr LUPU (Moldova) reiterated the three, in his view mostimportant, issues: financial independence of media, coordinating efforts to tackle externalpropaganda – also remarking that the situation in partner countries is very different to that ofthe EU landscape –, and media freedom in combination with responsibility. Mr ArtakZAKARYAN (Armenia) remarked – and elaborated – that the comment made by MrHASRET about Armenian journalists residing in Azerbaijan, due the latter having betterfreedom of expression, is incorrect. Mr BERMAN, also in response to Mr HASRET remarkedabout the latter not knowing the case of Afgan Sadigov, and provided additional information inhopes of aiding his search.

POL Co-Chair Mr TARASYUK announced the deadline for tabling amendments to be 7th

September 2017, on 18h00 (Brussels time).

6. Presentation by Mr Boris IAROCHEVITCH, Head of Division, EuropeanExternal Action Service (EEAS), Division for 'Eastern Partnership, Regionalcooperation & OSCE', on the preparation of and expectations from the 2017Eastern Partnership Summit.

POL Vice-Co-Chair Ms PIRI drew the attention to the Working Document of the EuropeanCommission on key priorities and deliverables that, in her view, can serve as a good basis forreviewing the advancement of the Eastern Partnership. She also asked Mr BorisIAROCHEVITCH to highlight what role, in his view, could be played by the Euronest PA inthe important period of preparation ahead the Summit.

Mr IAROCHEVITCH expressed his conviction that having the Summit in Brussels will be astrong signal to the outside world about the EU’s commitment to the Eastern Partnership. AsPOL Vice-Co-Chair Ms PIRI recalled the Working Document on deliverables, MrIAROCHEVITCH reminded that it is based on the four priority areas of cooperation agreedat the Riga Summit in 2015. He expressed his expectation the 2017 Summit to be more“business as usual”, compared to certain more dramatic Summits in the pasts. He indicated thehigh level of cooperation already reached and the need to continue on the same path. On theSummit, he noted that it will be an opportunity to take stock of progress achieved across thefour areas of the Riga Declaration, as well as to offer a vision for the future. He also admittedthat the context had changed since 2015, referring to the new European security landscape andthe increasing heterogeneity between partner countries.

Mr IAROCHEVITCH recalled the Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova andUkraine; the completed negotiations for a comprehensive and enhanced partnership agreementwith Armenia; the launched negotiations for a new agreement with Azerbaijan; and thecontinuing dialogue with Belarus, including a new – to be established in 10 days’ time – EU-Belarusian Coordination Group. He stressed the need to build the narrative together, and to beable to demonstrate to the citizens that the Eastern Partnership delivers positive results, which

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he indicated to be a challenge to both the EU and partner countries. He added that, therefore,communication will be a very important element around the Summit, especially in terms ofshowing unity. Mr IAROCHEVITCH noted that the multi-lateral architecture of the EasternPartnership is being revised, and also drew the attention to the importance of side events of theSummit, as they include the civil society and not only the Heads of States and Governments.He added that many of the important points raised in today’s meeting will be tackled at theseside events.

In response to the request of POL Vice-Co-Chair Ms PIRI, he noted that he had no definiteanswer on the role of the Euronest PA in the preparation to the Summit. He expressed the viewthat it will be very useful to have a Euronest PA event in the margins of the Summit, especiallyregarding the Members’ feedback for the Summit Declaration, which he admitted to be anextremely difficult exercise every time. He then added that he would like to have a shortpolitical joint declaration, for instance on the commitments to achieve the Eastern Partnership’sobjectives in the four Riga priority areas.

8. Planning and preparation of the Political Affairs and Social Affairs Committees’activity for 2017.

- Proposal for organising a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2017, on theresponsibilities of national parliaments and governments for implementing UnitedNations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 5, relating to health andgender equality.

SOC Co-Chair Ms IBRAHIMGIZI drew the attention to the brief concept note of theproposed conference on the responsibilities of national parliaments and governments forimplementing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5, relating to health andgender equality. She noted that the Azerbaijani Delegation to the Euronest PA had proposed toorganise this conference this year in Baku, and asked to schedule it in September due to thepleasant conditions of the season. She also kindly asked for comments and remarks, regardingthe proposal.

POL Co-Chair Mr TARASYUK suggested to take the decision over the proposal at a latertime. Then, before closing the meeting, he conveyed the news, regarding the murder of theformer member of the Russian State Duma, Denis Voronenkov, in Kiev.

The meeting was closed at 12:30.

Encl. list of attendance

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Euronest Parliamentary Assembly

Assemblée parlementaire Euronest

Parlamentarische Versammlung Euronest

Парламентская Aссамблея Евронест

Committee on Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy

and

Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society

Brussels, 23 March 2017

List of participants

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTMembers (11)

Mr Georgi PIRINSKI, Co-Chair, SOC Committee (Bulgaria, S&D)Ms Kati PIRI, Vice-Co-Chair, POL Committee (Netherlands, S&D)Ms Tanja FAJON, Co-Rapporteur, POL Committee (Slovenia, S&D)Ms Maria GRAPINI, Co-Rapporteur, SOC Committee (Romania, S&D)Mr Petras AUSTREVICIUS (Lithuania, ALDE)Ms Iveta GRIGULE (Latvia, ALDE)Ms Rebecca HARMS, Euronest PA Co-President (Germany, Greens/EFA)Ms Heidi HAUTALA (Finland, Greens/EFA)Mr Marc TARABELLA (Belgium, S&D)Mr Traian UNGUREANU (Romania, EPP)Mr Bogdan ZDROJEWSKI (Poland, EPP)

ARMENIAMembers (1)

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Mr Artak ZAKARYAN, Head of the Delegation

AZERBAIJANMembers (4)

Ms Malahat IBRAHIMGIZI, Co-Chair, SOC CommitteeMr Fuad MURADOV, Head of the DelegationMr Rasim MUSABEYOV, Co-Rapporteur, POL CommitteeMr Rovshan RZAYEV

GEORGIAMembers (6)

Ms Tamar KHULORDAVA, Head of the DelegationMr Sergi KAPANADZEMs Guguli MAGRADZEMr Beka NATSVLISHVILIMs Salome SAMADASHVILIMr Dimitri TSKITISHVILI

MOLDOVAMembers (2)

Mr Marian LUPU, Co-President of the Euronest PA, Head of the DelegationMr Ion APOSTOL

UKRAINEMembers (6)

Mr Borys TARASYUK, Co-Chair, POL CommitteeMr Hennadi CHEKITAMr Oleksander KODOLAMr Vitalii KORCHYKMr Oleksandr KSENZHUKMs Natalia VESELOVA, Co-Rapporteur, SOC Committee