Today and tomorrow, President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Lauri Hussar participates in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament, held in Dublin, Ireland, under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). In addition to supporting Ukraine, the challenges to representative democracy are discussed at the Conference.

Hussar said that, at the Conference, the presidents of the PACE parliaments planned to discuss how to continue providing the necessary support to Ukraine in Russia’s ongoing war of aggression and how the national parliaments could contribute to this. At the discussion attended by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and role of national parliaments in Ukraine’s reconstruction will be spoken about, as well as direct support to Ukraine and holding Russia to account.

During the second part of the Conference, the speakers of parliaments will address the challenges to representative democracy. At this discussion, Hussar as well as the presidents of the parliaments of France and Portugal will deliver a speech. In his speech, Hussar will draw attention to the need to strengthen the resilience of societies to hostile activities, including influence activities and cyber-attacks, and to take technological risks into account. According to him, countries need to invest more in increasing cybersecurity and raising media awareness of the people, pay more attention to the threats posed by the use of artificial intelligence and look for new ways to increase voter turnout, especially among young people.

In the last part of the Conference, the PACE speakers will discuss the issues of equality and diversity in relation to the representation of young people, women and ethnic and social groups in parliaments.

During the Conference, Hussar will have meetings with President of the Parliament of North-Macedonia Talat Xhaferi, Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Parliament of Türkiye Numan Kurtulmuş and President of the Parliament of Armenia Alen Simonyan.

Speakers and presidents of parliament from the member states of the Council of Europe and its partner and observer countries, as well as the heads of parliamentary delegations participate in the Conference. From Estonia, the Head of the Estonian delegation to the PACE Liisa Pakosta also attends the Conference.

Riigikogu Press Service
Karin Kangro
+372 631 6356, +372 520 0323
[email protected]
Questions: [email protected]

Feedback