Committee on Foreign Affairs
The Chair
Ref.: D(2020) 32568
Dear Chair, dear colleague,
I would like to cordially invite you, together with a small delegation from your committee,
to an
inter-parliamentary committee meeting (ICM)
of the Foreign Affairs Committee
on
2 December 2020 at 13:45-15:45 and 16:45-18:45.
This meeting was initially planned
to take place on 23 June 2020, but unfortunately had to be rescheduled as a result of the
COVID-19 outbreak and the related restrictions to physical meetings at the European
Parliament.
I am convinced that it is important to resume our regular cooperation with national
parliaments in the area of foreign and security policy to the extent possible and in full respect
of the applicable COVID-19 protocols and restrictions. Therefore, this ICM will take place
in a remote format, with all participants connecting remotely via
Interactio
platform.
The first session of the ICM
will be entitled “Western
Balkans: 25 years after the Dayton
agreements”. This will be an opportunity to evaluate the developments in the region since
the signature of the landmark agreements together with the parliamentarians from the
Western Balkan countries, covering the lessons learnt, ongoing challenges and future-
oriented aspects.
The second session, entitled “A
united EU response in support of democratic change in
Belarus”,
will focus on what the EU and its Member States can
jointly do in support of the
democratic movement in Belarus, which is continuing despite brutal crackdown by the
authorities.
I trust that you will agree that these are particularly relevant topics, focusing on our
immediate neighbourhood that is facing multiple challenges. A more detailed programme
will follow in due course.
I hope you will be able to join us on 2 December and look forward to a fruitful debate.
Yours sincerely,
David McAllister