Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC)
Created in January 1991 upon the initiative of the Finnish Parliament, the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) is an original forum gathering not only national parliamentarians, but also representatives of sub-national assemblies, i.e. the parliaments of the Faroe Islands, the Aland Islands and Greenland, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Karelia, the regional parliaments of Leningrad, Kaliningrad, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, the Hanseatic Cities of Bremen, Hamburg, Saint Petersburg, as well as supranational assemblies, i.e. the European Parliament, the Baltic Assembly, the Nordic Council and the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
The Conference meets once a year and its activities are carried out by a Standing Committee, responsible for scheduling meetings, planning the working agenda and monitoring the implementation of decisions taken in the meetings. The Committee consists of nine parliamentarians: Poland, the Baltic Assembly and the European Parliament have one representative, while Germany, the Russian Federation and the Nordic Council have two. In addition to the Standing Committee there is also a Secretariat based in Copenhagen, responsible for supervising the preparation of the meetings.
The parliamentary forum only has a consultative role, it formulates recommendations and proposals to the Council, governments, national parliaments and international organisations by consensus.
The Parliamentary Conference has played an important role in encouraging the development of joint plans through the creation of a series of sectoral committees and has particularly committed itself to promoting the strengthening of democracy, rule of law and protection of human rights, establishing in 1994 a Special Commissioner on this matter.