Meeting of the Secretaries General was also a preparation for the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, scheduled for 20 and 21 April, also in Rome. The agenda of the Conference of the Speakers of European Union Parliaments, which was presented today, would include several sessions on the topics of "Europe beyond the crisis: new paths for growth", "The continent of fundamental rights: a Europe of freedom, solidarity and security", "The role of Parliaments in negotiations on international Treaties" and "Strengthening political dialogue". As part of the closing session of the Conference of the Speakers, a consideration was planned of the Rules of Procedure of the Conference under Art. 13 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union and of the revised Rules of Procedure of the Inter-parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign And Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

The Conference of the Speakers of Parliaments, consisting of presidents of national parliaments of EU Member States, presidents of parliaments of candidate countries and the President of the European Parliament, aims to promote the role of parliaments and monitoring of coordination of inter-parliamentary activities. The Conference provides a forum for the exchange of views, information and experiences among parliament speakers, on topics related to the role and organization of parliamentary functions, promotion of research activities and joint actions.

Today in Rome, during the first session, the Secretaries General also discussed matters pertaining to IPEX (Inter-parliamentary exchange of information), as the basic platform for the exchange of information relating to the European Union. The Annual Report of the Inter-Parliamentary exchange of information was adopted at the meeting and the commitment of the Secretaries General was reiterated regarding further development of IPEX, as a reliable means of exchange of information and documents related to the EU. New IPEX Guidelines have been adopted as well, which introduced taking over a one-year presidency by the country holding the Presidency of the Conference of the Speakers of EU Parliaments or the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of the year.   

The topic of the second session of the meeting of the Secretaries General was the support of parliamentary administrations for the preliminary scrutiny and the quality of EU legislation, during which views and ideas of the European Parliament and national parliaments were exchanged for the improvement of mechanisms and roles of national parliaments and other institutions and citizens at every stage of the legislative process, in order to make quality of regulations and their application for the benefit of citizens of the Union.

During the third session, the developments in political dialogue were discussed, during which the secretaries general exchanged views on the possibilities of strengthening political dialogue at all levels, both between parliamentarians, and national parliaments, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The Secretary General of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr Siniša Stanković, had a series of bilateral talks with his colleagues from the parliaments of the EU and the region, during which he informed his interlocutors about the progress that the Parliament of Montenegro had made in the past, and they exchanged views on possibilities for improving bilateral cooperation in order to exchange best practices.