Strasbourg, 29/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - Some 40 speakers and presidents of parliament from the 46 Council of Europe Member States, as well as the heads of the European Parliament, the Nordic Council, the WEU Assembly and Benelux, will gather in Tallinn (Estonia) on 30 and 31 May 2006 for a parliamentary summit on the twin themes 'Bridge-building through parliamentary democracy' and 'The role of parliaments in promoting pluralistic democracy at home and abroad.'
Co-hosted by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) and the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments will look at how legislators from different European countries are increasingly acting together, alongside or instead of governments, to solve conflicts and spread democracy. Following introductory speeches by PACE President Rene van der Linden, Riigikogu President Toomas Varek and European Parliament President Josep Borrell, there will be presentations on the conference themes from the speakers of the Swedish Riksdag, the Belgian House of Representatives, the Greek parliament and the Georgian parliament. The first European Speakers' Conference was held in 1975. It takes place every two years, hosted alternately in Strasbourg or in the capital of a Council of Europe Member State.