Baltic region: current state and prospects for cooperation in the Baltic region

Parliament unanimously adopted the report by Mr Kyösti TOIVONEN (PPE, Fin) on the Commission communication on cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. Parliament stressed that cooperation in the Baltic Sea region must focus in particular on the development of democracy and the market economy, and attach particular importance to the development of human resources. When implementing its association and partnership agreements, the Union must make use of the political provisions designed to uphold human rights in the third countries party to those agreements. Parliament called on the Commission to support moves to establish a free trade area between the Baltic States, to enable it to come into being as early as 1998. Parliament also emphasized environmental protection and considered that the Union should take measures to help solve the environmental problems of the Baltic Sea region. It called on the Commission to give particular attention to stepping up cooperation with the countries of the Baltic Sea region on asylum policy and combating crime. The same approach should be taken in action to counter trafficking in drugs, hazardous substances and human beings, and in tackling money-laundering. Finally, the plenary believed that the Union can only exercise positive influence in the Baltic Sea region if it joins and lends its support to the existing structures for interregional cooperation. �