The two-day conference, which began today, pooled 40 parliament presidents and focused on the role of parliamentary diplomacy and the role of parliaments in the promotion of pluralist democracy at home and abroad.
Croatia was represented by Parliament President Vladimir Seks.
CoE Parliamentary Assembly President Rene van der Linden and European Parliament President Josep Borrell, who participated in such a conference for the first time, said that EU national parliaments must take a more active part in dealing with the crisis caused by the failure to adopt an EU constitution.
Van der Linden and Borrell also called for strengthening cooperation among national parliaments and their influence on other international institutions.
The participants in the debate said the end of the Cold War paved the way for stronger globalisation and gave national parliaments a new and bigger role, also on the wider international front.
National parliaments must have a stronger role also in the supervision of the work of international organisations and not be just bodies at the end of a chain which merely ratify conventions or approve funds for the work of those organisations, the speakers said.
Numerous parliaments still hesitate about establishing control over activities of international organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the World Trade Organisation, said the president of the Belgian Parliament's House of Representatives, Herman De Croo.
The parliament presidents also pointed to the increasingly important role of parliamentary diplomacy, saying it had proved to be a useful parallel channel of communication among countries which was not limited by strict diplomatic rules and thus provided for more direct and honest talks.
The conference of CoE national parliament presidents takes place every two years. Zagreb hosted it four years ago, when it focused on combating terrorism.
Asked by the press to comment on the speeches delivered today, Croatia's Seks said the speakers underlined the need to strengthen the role of parliaments, including that of the Croatian Sabor, in creating and supervising the foreign policy.
Seks said that within the context of EU enlargement, the Croatian parliament must have a stronger and more active role in adopting all EU standards and not be just a voting service.
He said the Tallinn conference was also a good opportunity to strengthen the Sabor's role in parliamentary diplomacy and in lobbying for and promoting Croatian national interests, among parliaments and in the CoE.
Seks is due to give a talk at the conference later today.