15/10/2026 European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
European Conference of Presidents of Parliament returns to the Italian capital fifty years after it was first held there
“The Europe we dream of is never finished. It is always work in progress, and every one of us helps to build it,” PACE President Petra Bayr today told Speakers of Parliament from across the continent gathered in Rome.
Opening the 2026 European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in the Italian capital, the President declared: “We do not always agree. But we have chosen to sit in the same room and look for common ground. Because, in the end, we all serve the same people: our citizens.”
“Dialogue between parliaments is not a formality. It is a necessity,” she pointed out. “Hybrid attacks, artificial intelligence, the erosion of international law: none of these can be solved within the walls of a single parliament. Each of us holds only part of the answer. Our democracies are only as strong as the connections between them.”
Some 70 Speakers or Deputy Speakers and around 500 delegates are attending the conference, organised by PACE and hosted by the Italian Parliament, as well as the heads of a number of inter-parliamentary assemblies.
The conference, held over two days in the Italian capital, takes place fifty years after the first such conference was held in the same city. It will be looking at three topical themes:
Resilient democracies: united against hybrid threats
Artificial Intelligence and the labour market
Renewing the rules-based international order: the role of parliaments in addressing and responding to contemporary crises
In a welcome address, the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Lorenzo Fontana recalled that the Italian Parliament hosted, in September 1975, the very first Speakers’ Conference. “It was a moment of particular political foresight, which gave a significant boost to the development of parliamentary diplomacy.”
Noting the pressing challenges facing the world at this historic juncture, Mr Fontana said: “I hope that this conference will serve as a privileged forum for promoting unity of purpose amongst our democracies, with the sincerest hope that together we may forge a shared path founded on freedom, democracy and peace.”
Also welcoming participants, the President of the Senate of the Italian Republic Ignazio La Russa described parliaments as “the beating heart of democracy”, willing and ready to face the great challenges of our time.
“The response we give cannot just be national – it must be collective, European, international. And it is in the Council of Europe that we find the strength to defend ourselves, while remaining faithful to our principles,” he added. “I firmly believe the dialogue amongst peoples is the royal road to facing the global challenges of our times.”
Speakers participating in the conference were also invited by the PACE President to write “a letter to myself” reflecting on a key moment from the conference, or one idea they might wish to take back to their home parliament, or one concrete step they could take to advance the aims of the conference.
Remaining private, these will be sealed and sent back to each Speaker in a few weeks to ensure that the impetus of the conference continues and that “Rome does not end in Rome”.