Zagreb - Republic of Croatia on 1 July 2016 assumed a one-year rotating Chairmanship of the South- East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) from Bulgaria.
On that occasion five basic principles of the Croatian Chairmanship were presented: solidarity, support to candidate countries and potential candidates for membership to the EU, connection, strengthening political dialogue via parliamentary cooperation and energy synergy as well as three priority areas: science and education, energy and responding to crisis situations. The motto of Croatian SEECP Chairmanship is: "Connection. Communication. Cooperation. "
According to the SEECP parliamentary dimension Croatian Parliament assumed the Chairmanship of the South- East European Cooperation Process Parliamentary Assembly (SEECP PA) from the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. In his introductory letter to the Presidents of the Parliaments of the SEECP participating countries, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Željko Reiner presented the priorities of the Croatian Parliamentary Assembly Chairmanship and stressed the importance of further work on the institutionalization and strengthening the visibility of the Assembly, as well as strengthening the work of the three general committees (Committee on Economy, Infrastructure and Energy, Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Security Cooperation and Committee on Social Development, Education, Research and Science). As priorities of Croatian parliamentary Chairmanship, Reiner listed strengthening the cooperation of the Parliamentary Assembly with other inter-parliamentary assemblies, European Parliament and Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and support to the SEECP participating countries for EU and NATO membership.
In accordance with the adopted Work Program 2016-2017, the Croatian Chairmanship plans to organize in Croatia at least two meetings of the SEECP PA Standing Committee, two meetings of the general committees and the Plenary Session of the Assembly.
SEECP Parliamentary Assembly was founded at the inaugural session held in Romania in 2014 bringing together 13 participating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey and Kosovo. Primary objective of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly is to strengthen cooperation and coordination of efforts among the participating parliaments in order to promote and further ensure peace, security, stability, solidarity and good neighbourly cooperation in the region in the interest of its citizens and Europe in general.