14 February 2025

The Hungarian National Assembly organised the Meeting of the Secretaries General of the European Union Parliaments, with the participation of parliaments of candidate countries, on 9-10 February 2025 in Budapest. The meeting was hosted by György Such, Director General of the Hungarian National Assembly. The event was opened by László Kövér, Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly who pointed out the main objective of the meeting: preparation of the highest-level forum for interparliamentary cooperation, the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments. In addition, it also provides an opportunity to review current common issues and experiences between the offices and to find common solutions. He emphasised that the employees of the Office of the Hungarian National Assembly made it "the most stable institution of the Hungarian administration through their professional and loyal service over decades and across governments". He wished his fellow Speakers the same as he has been granted: “political stability in parliament and administrative stability in the working organisation of parliament”.

In total, 105 people attended the event, representing the national parliaments of all EU Member States, as well as the national parliaments of the following candidate countries: Albania, North Macedonia, Georgia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine. Alessandro Chiocchetti, Secretary-General of the European Parliament joined the conference online, and Despina Chatzivassiliou, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe attended the event as an observer.

At the meeting the Secretaries General took stock of the draft programme of the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments to be organised on 11-12 May 2025, and they consulted on current issues concerning IPEX. They also exchanged views on two other topics of interest to the work of the parliamentary offices. In the session about the education on democracy and citizen education programmes in parliaments, György Such presented the Hungarian National Assembly’s practice on democracy education and civic education programmes. Alessandro Chiocchetti presented the European Parliament's education programmes, its visitor strategy and its digital and interactive programmes. Harald Dossi, Secretary General of the Parliament of Austria elaborated on the role of national parliaments in strengthening democracy and the benefits and positive effects of the Austrian Parliament's education programmes.

During the agenda item on cooperation of EU parliaments with the parliaments of candidate countries, Péter Sárdi, Director for Foreign Relations of the Hungarian National Assembly’s Office outlined the instruments the Hungarian National Assembly use in order to support the process of EU enlargement and the European integration of the Western Balkan countries. Srđan Smiljanić, Secretary General of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia highlighted the importance of regular exchanges of views and experience between EU Member States and candidate countries. Jonathan Murphy, Head of Programme of Inter Pares presented the objectives of the programme, its operational principles and funding schemes, as well as the results of the partnerships implemented so far.

More information on the meeting can be found here.