On the occasion of the upcoming 550th anniversary of parliamentarism, the first international conference with the participation of the Speaker of the Sejm was held at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.

- We are all aware that the Polish Sejm and Polish parliamentarism are among the oldest in the world. Recent research indicates that 1468 should be considered the most appropriate date, which forms the basis for today's conference. And perhaps this is not the final date," said the Speaker of the Sejm in opening the conference.

He noted that the organizers want to emphasize the importance of the centuries-old tradition of this basic institution of Polish political life, which is the parliament.

- We want to recognize its role and influence on the political consciousness of Poles and other nations in our part of Europe that participated for hundreds of years in the construction of the common Polish Republic. The essence of this political awareness is the conviction that we were and are free people, who shape their own political fate," Kuchciński argued. He stressed that the Republic of Poland has never experienced or recognized absolute power, unlike many other countries in Western Europe, and as hosts in our own home we have been, are and will be judged by ourselves.

The participants debated, among other things, the origins of the parliamentary system (from the gathering of the monarch and the clerical elite to the three Sejm states: the king, senators and members of parliament), parliamentarism as a factor of integration of the Republic of Poland, the political culture of the nobility and the achievements of the Old Polish Sejm.

Present were Vice-Marshalls of the Sejm Beata Mazurek and Ryszard Terlecki. Among the speakers were: prof. dr hab. Andrzej Nowak (The place of parliamentarism and citizenship in the Polish patriotic tradition), prof. dr hab. Wojciech Fałkowski (The process of creating of the General Sejm), prof. dr hab. Wacław Uruszczak (The first "bicameral" Sejm in Piotrków from 9 to 31 October 1468), Prof. Dániel Bagi from the University of Pécs (The Angevin period and the beginnings of parliamentarism in the Kingdom of Hungary), Prof. Dariusz Makiłła, Prof. nadzw. Dariusz Makiłła, prof. nadzw. of UKSW (The formation of state-wide assemblies and state representations in Europe in the XIII-XV centuries).

Photo: Krzysztof Białoskórski/ Sejm