– The Speaker of the Congress and the Speaker of the Senate shall participate in this Conference, to be held from April 21 to 23.
– On Sunday, Speaker Armengol shall inaugurate the Summit of Women Speakers of Parliaments
Next Monday, April 22, His Majesty the King Felipe VI shall inaugurate the Conference of Speakers of Parliaments of the European Union, to be held at the Palacio Real de la Almudaina in Palma. The Speaker of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, and the Speaker of the Senate, Pedro Rollán shall likewise participate in the said Conference, which will mark the end of the events held within the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the second half of 2023.
On a prior basis, the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies shall inaugurate the Summit of Women Speakers of Parliaments to be held on Sunday 21, at 17.20 at the Salón de Consejos of the Palacio de la Almudaina, which shall include a round table on women’s leadership with the participation of Mireia Badía, CEO and founder of StockCrowd IN; Victoria Luengo, actress and recipient of the Award Fundación Princesa de Girona 2024; Sara García Alonso, scientist and astronaut; as well as Dita Charanzova, vice-president of the European Parliament; Markéta Pekarová Adamová, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic; and Elliane Tillieux, Speaker of the Chamber of Representatives of the Kingdom of Belgium.
On Monday, before the inauguration session, His Majesty the King Felipe VI shall receive the Speakers of the Chambers at the hallway. Next, he will greet the Regional President of the Balearic Islands, Margalida Prohens; the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños; the Speaker of the Regional Parliament of the Balearic Islands, Gabriel Antonio Le-Senne; the Government Delegate at the Autonomous Region of the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez and the President of the Consell of Mallorca, Llorenç Sebastià Galmés. Subsequently, he will greet the rest of authorities at the Salón de Consejos.
From 12.20, the inaugural session shall take place at the Salón Gótico. The Speaker of the Senate shall deliver the first speech, followed by the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies. The address by H.M the King shall mark the end of the inauguration session, which will be likewise attended, together with the Speakers and representatives of the Parliaments of the EU Member States, candidate countries and guest countries, by the members of the Bureaus of the Chambers and Deputies, Senators and MEPs by the Balearic Islands.
The session devoted to the “Strategic autonomy of the European Union faced with the new challenges for liberal democracies in times of social media and artificial intelligence as regards foreign and defence policy: the illegal invasion of Russia against Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East” shall start at 14.30.
In the said session, there will be a video message by Rusan Stefanchuk, Speaker of Ukraine’s Supreme Rada. The keynote speakers shall be Markéta Pekarová, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic; Lorenzo Fontana, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy; Wofgang Sobotka, Speaker of the National Council of Austria; Bärbel Bas, Speaker of the German Bundestag; and Szymon Hołownia, Marshall of the Polish Sejm.
The Conference shall resume its work with the second session on Tuesday 23, at 10.00, where Othmar Karas, first vice – president of the European Parliament (representing the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola); Peter Pellegrini, Speaker of the Parliament of Slovakia; and Konstantinos Tasoulas, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, shall discuss the “Strengthening the European Union from an economic and social perspective: the new fiscal rules of the European Union and enhancement of the Economic and Monetary Union in the context of prospective enlargement, social rights and environmental and climate change challenges”.
The closing session shall take place at 12.30, with the adoption of conclusions and the Charter on the role of Parliaments in a liberal functioning democracy.
This Conference marks the end of the parliamentary dimension of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, which started on July 1, 2023. Within this framework the International Conference to commemorate the Day of Parliamentarism, the XV Euro – Latin America Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat), the meeting of Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC), the Inter-Parliamentary Conferences on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance and for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CFSP-CSDP) and the LXX COSAC Conference have been held.