Meeting of Speakers
A meeting with the President of the European Parliament Mr. Hans – Gert Pöttering, the First Vice-President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain Mrs. Teresa Cunillera, the President of the National Assembly of France Mr. Bernard Accoyer and the Speaker of the Parliament of Sweden Mr. Per Westerberg took place in Prague on Friday 30 January 2009 upon the invitation of the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Mr. Miloslav Vlček.
The main topics of the meeting were the current state of the ratification process of the Treaty of Lisbon, the communication between National Parliaments and the role and possibilities of National Parliaments in dealing with crisis situations.
A personal statement with proposals for the improvement of parliamentary diplomacy, presented in a form of ten suggestions was introduced by Mr. Miloslav Vlček. The President of the European Parliament Mr. Hans – Gert Pöttering fundamentally agreed with the statement. The guests present at the meeting agreed upon a need to consider this important issue at the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, which will take place in Paris on 27 – 28 February 2009. The initial ten-point statement by Mr. Vlček represents the first contribution to the Paris discussions.
