Parliament, for the Italian Chamber the shortest holidays among the G7 countries

After a mad rush to approve a dozen decrees, Parliament is closing its doors for the summer recess. Work in the House will resume on 10 September, that in the Senate on the following day. More than a month's break even though parliamentary activity will resume in the committees the week before for a total of 25 days of actual holiday.

The duration of the suspension is similar to last year's (when the summer recess lasted from 7 August to 4 September) and shorter than the holidays taken by parliamentary colleagues in the 'lower chambers' of the other G7 countries: they range from 85 days in Canada's House of Commons to 36 in the US House of Representatives, and from 73 days in France's Assemblée nationale to 66 in Germany's Bundestag. In Spain, parliamentary work was suspended for at least 60 days. This is what emerges from a dossier of the Presidency of the Chamber presented on the occasion of the Fan Ceremony.

The Italian Parliament can also boast the record for the number of plenary session days held in 2023 compared to the sister bodies of the Group of Seven: 191. A figure similar to that of the US House (180) where the annual sessions have a beginning and an end set for 3 January each year. The French Assemblée nationale has a session that starts on the first working day of October and ends on the last working day of June: a calendar that in 2023 brought to152 days of plenary sessions. Last year in the UK the House of commons totalled 134 days of chamber work, Canada's 121. Below 100 were the German Bundestag (68 days), the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados (60 days) and Japan's Shūgiin, the House of Representatives (50 days, but the figure refers to 2022).