The Conferences of Parliamentary Speakers and Presidents

The first meeting of the speakers and presidents of the European parliamentary assemblies took place on an informal basis in 1973 at the invitation of Speaker Faure of the French Parliament. Since then, the conferences of parliamentary speakers and presidents have become well-established, and the President of the German Bundestag or his representative regularly meets with other parliamentary speakers and presidents at international or supranational conferences. A distinction is made between the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, which is a forum where the speakers of the parliaments of Member States of the European Union and the European Parliament meet annually, and the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments, which is attended by representatives of the Member States of the Council of Europe and various other parliamentary assemblies. Conferences of parliamentary speakers and presidents also take place within the frameworks of the G7, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (Barcelona Process) between the Member States of the European Union and its partners of the Southern Mediterranean, and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The conferences foster the exchange of information and experience on fundamental issues concerning parliamentarism, parliamentary work and the organization of parliamentary functions, and on specialized topics.