European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Friday called for closer cooperation between parliaments and more effective use of parliamentary diplomacy as she opened the G7 Speakers’ Summit in Paris.
Metsola said that, despite differences between political systems, parliaments faced a range of common challenges, including artificial intelligence, hybrid threats, migration, economic shocks, disinformation and declining public trust.
She said this made stronger practical cooperation between parliaments necessary, both to exchange experience and to make more effective use of parliamentary diplomacy.
Continued support for Ukraine
Referring to Ukraine, Metsola said the country's participation in G7 parliamentary speakers’ meetings since September 2022 demonstrated the participants’ intention to maintain political support for Kyiv.
She recalled that, just over a month after Russia's invasion, a European Parliament delegation travelled to Kyiv and addressed the Verkhovna Rada.
Metsola also noted that the European Parliament was the first EU institution to call for sanctions against Russia and the first to support granting Ukraine candidate status for EU membership.
According to Metsola, a network of around 160 national parliaments has also been established with the aim of maintaining political support for Ukraine through parliamentary diplomacy.
The role of parliamentary diplomacy
Metsola stressed that parliaments do not replace governments or diplomacy in international relations, but can use their political role to create additional channels of communication.
Parliamentary relations, she said, can create space for dialogue, facilitate communication between different political forces and help build relationships before a crisis emerges.
She also referred to the European Parliament's initiative to strengthen the parliamentary dimension alongside major government-level summits.
As an example, she cited the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council summit, which was held for the first time at leaders’ level in 2024 and was followed, she said, by a corresponding meeting of parliamentary speakers.
The second meeting in this parliamentary format is expected to be hosted by the European Parliament in October.
Metsola marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks
Metsola also referred to the 25th anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
She recalled that one of the first meetings of G7 parliamentary speakers had focused specifically on the response of allies following the attacks, noting that the need for joint action remained relevant today.
She also noted that the original format bringing together the world's leading industrialised economies was launched in France 51 years ago, at a time of significant geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
In her closing remarks, Metsola called on participants to consider ways of making cooperation between parliaments more practical and of using parliamentary diplomacy more effectively as a tool in international relations.
