Chamber of Deputies

In addition to setting national foreign policy and monitoring its implementation by the Government, Parliaments also carry out their own activities of international relations. They thus perform a sort of "parliamentary diplomacy" that complements their respective governments'.

International parliamentary diplomacy has intensified considerably across the world in response to the rising need both for dialogue and for the cultivation of contacts with other parliaments and international organisations, in the face of a process of globalisation whose effects are both economic and political.

The Chamber of Deputies' system of international relations operates within the framework of various bilateral, multilateral and international fora. Its ever-greater scope and reach reflect the increasing interdependence of all the geopolitical areas of the planet.

The network of interparliamentary relations has become a mainstay of political dialogue and contributes to broadening the experience and knowledge of legislators, in a society where issues and challenges to be addressed increasingly transcend national borders.

All the bodies of the Chamber of Deputies take part in international activities, beginning with the President and the Bureau of the Chamber and including Parliamentary Committees and their Chairpersons, Delegations to international assemblies and parliamentary Groups on inter-parliamentary cooperation with foreign parliaments set up under the terms of cooperation protocols.

Bilateral relations and cooperation protocols

The Chamber of Deputies deals with bilateral relations as follows:

• The Chamber receives daily visits to its premises by foreign delegations for meetings with various parliamentary bodies. These visits are reciprocated with missions abroad authorised by the President of the Chamber.
• International cooperation programmes with foreign parliaments serves the dual purpose of fostering the exchange of practical knowledge with other parliaments and contributing to the establishment of strong representative bodies in new and emerging democracies.
• Bilateral protocols on interparliamentary cooperation with parliaments of foreign countries enhance the visibility and quality of bilateral relations. Over the years, the Chamber of Deputies has signed 25 protocols. Some of them provide for the setting up of bodies of bilateral cooperation, others for the organisation of parliamentary seminars and workshops.

Multilateral and international cooperation

The Chamber of Deputies plays an active role in promoting the parliamentary dimension of the intergovernmental cooperation initiatives involving Italy.

Italian Delegations to international assemblies are made up of Deputies and Senators, who carry out policy-setting and oversight activities in relation to the policies of their respective intergovernmental dimension.

The Italian Parliament has delegations to the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe, NATO, OSCE, the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM).

The Chamber of Deputies also works and cooperates with countries participating in the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative and with Asian countries. The Chamber attends the periodic Conferences of Speakers and Presidents, in particular those involving the Lower Houses of Parliaments of the G7 countries and the Parliaments of the European Union.

With an observer status, the Chamber of Deputies takes part in intergovernmental conferences promoted in the context of the United Nations and other international organisations (WTO, OSCE, the World Bank, etc.), as well as in special thematic conferences organised by national parliaments.