On 24 and 25 April, the Conference of Speakers of the European Union Parliaments will be held in Prague in the Czech Republic. Switzerland will participate as an observer at the invitation of the Czech parliament and will be represented by National Council president Martin Candinas and Council of States president Brigitte Häberli-Koller. Ms Häberli-Koller will also participate in an event dedicated to female speakers, which will be held on 23 April.
The annual conference is organised by the country holding the presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of the previous year. It is part of the parliamentary dimension of the EU Council presidency, which aims to reinforce the role of national parliaments in the EU legislative process.
The purpose of the EU Speakers Conference is to provide a platform for exchanging different viewpoints and establishing interparliamentary dialogue at the highest level. Participants will hold discussions in two sessions, including on the war in Ukraine. The first session will focus on Russian aggression in Ukraine and the EU response in a broader geopolitical context, and the second on the role of the EU in global cooperation of democracies and the issue of EU member states' dependence on totalitarian regimes.
The presidents of the National Council and the Council of States will take advantage of the presence of their counterparts from various EU countries, EU candidate countries, and some EFTA and EEA countries to foster Switzerland’s contacts with other parliaments.