A conference of women members of parliaments under the topic ‘From Victims to Agents of Change’ was held in Budva, Montenegro, 9-11 May 2003. Special Coordinator Erhard Busek welcomed this as a very positive development, which shows that regional cooperation and networking amongst SEE parliaments is developing its structures.

The South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP)*, out of whose national parliaments the participants of the conference came, is a close regional partner within the Stability Pact. In recent years, the Conference of Presidents of SEECP Parliaments has consistently called for the creation of a regional parliamentary structure and the participants at the conference in Budva strongly supported the idea.

The aim of such regional structures is to provide opportunities to exchange experiences and practical knowledge on the parliamentary involvement in the integration process through meetings of members of parliaments and parliamentary staff of the countries concerned. SEECP includes one EU member state and three candidate countries.

In light of the prospect for future EU integration of all the countries of South Eastern Europe, the Stability Pact supported and enhanced efficient parliamentary cooperation in the region from its early stages. The Stability Pact itself comprises a parliamentary dimension in the form of a Troika of the European Parliament and the OSCE and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assemblies, inaugurated in June 2001.