Home » World » National Council President Sobotka in a virtual exchange with the Canadian Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rota

National Council President Sobotka in a virtual exchange with the Canadian Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rota


Office colleagues exchange information on the pandemic situation, the IPU world conference and parliamentary restructuring

Vienna (PK) National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka met this afternoon by video conference with the Speaker (President) of the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament, Anthony Rota, to exchange experiences. Topics included the relations between the two states at parliamentary level and experiences with international cooperation between parliaments. In this context, the IPU world conference in Vienna next September was also addressed. Sobotka and Rota also shared their experiences with the COVID-19 crisis and the parliamentary renovations in Vienna and Ottawa.

Challenges from the corona crisis

In connection with the corona pandemic, the President of the National Council and his Canadian counterpart discussed, among other things, the question of acceptance of the corona measures in the population and compared the status of the vaccination campaigns in both countries. Sobotka pointed out that Austria as a tourist country has a strong interest in all regulations that allow international mobility and travel again. The vaccinations, in particular, would reinforce the hope of an extensive normalization in the near future. Rota reported that Canada now expects to have immunized up to 75% of the vaccineable population by mid-August, after having teething troubles with the vaccines. He shared with Sobotka the opinion that an internationally standardized vaccination certificate would be desirable in order to enable people to travel again.

Opening up and promoting democracy as challenges for parliaments

National Council President Sobotka and Speaker Rota also compared the experiences with the extensive renovations of the historic parliament buildings that are currently taking place in Vienna and Ottawa. Similar challenges emerged, since in both cases it is not just about the renovation and technical adaptation of the buildings. These should also be opened to the population and become places where democracy is conveyed. Sobotka and Rota agreed that this is of great importance in view of the fact that democracy is coming under much pressure.

International cooperation between parliaments and the IPU world conference

One focus of the discussion was experiences with parliamentary exchange and cooperation between parliaments. The two counterparts agreed that the experience of the pandemic should be used and that the video conferencing instrument would enable a quick exchange. However, the direct encounter cannot be replaced.

In this context, Speaker Rota also expressed his interest in the 5th IPU World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, which will take place in Vienna from September 6th to 8th, 2021. National Council President Sobotka emphasized that he hoped to be able to personally greet the President of the Canadian Parliament. He is confident that the development of the pandemic will in any case allow a physical meeting of the parliamentary speakers by autumn, of course taking all security measures into account. (Enough)

NOTE: Photos of this conversation, see the Website of parliament.


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