Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC)

Parliamentary cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region dates back to 1991 when the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Mr Kalevi Sorsa, hosted the first Parliamentary Conference on the Baltic Sea. Subsequent conferences were held in Oslo in 1992 and Warsaw in 1994. Since then, parliamentary conferences in the Baltic Sea Region have taken place on an annual basis. At the Lübeck Conference in 1998, it was decided that parliamentary cooperation should be strengthened through the establishment of more formal structures. Rules of Procedure and a new name - the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) - were therefore adopted in 1999. The BSPC's aim is to strengthen the common identity of the Baltic Sea Region by means of close cooperation between national and regional parliaments, initiate and guide political activities in the Baltic Sea Region, promote cooperation, and act as a forum for debate and exchange of information between parliaments and other bodies and organizations on the international and interregional level.

The delegation of the German Bundestag consists of 5 members and is headed in the 20th electoral term by Johannes Schraps (Social Democrat). The German state parliaments of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg and Bremen also send delegations to the BSPC.