17/09/2012 European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
Speakers and presidents of parliament from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe and many partner, observer and neighbouring countries, as well as the heads of several interparliamentary assemblies, were gathering in Strasbourg from 20 to 21 September 2012 for a major European parliamentary summit which is held every two years.
Around 350 delegates were expected at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments, held under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which has been debating three major topical issues:
• The future of the European Court of Human Rights – Role of national parliaments (theme 1)
• Is representative democracy in crisis? Challenges for national parliaments (theme 2)
• The Arab revolutions: challenges and opportunities (theme 3)
The conference opened on Thursday 20 September at 3.30pm with a welcome address by the President of PACE. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe also addressed the conference, as well as the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, in respect of the Albanian chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.
The first European Speakers’ Conference was held in 1975. It takes place every two years, hosted alternately in Strasbourg and a capital of a Council of Europe member state.
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