27/04/2010 Session
The Parliament of Morocco is the first one to apply officially for the status of "partner for democracy". This status, recently established by the PACE, allows parliamentary delegations from the countries of the Mediterranean’s southern shore, the Middle East and central Asia to take part in the Assembly's activities.
In return, parliaments seeking "partner for democracy" status must declare their commitment to the Council of Europe's values, undertake to hold free and fair elections, work towards abolishing the death penalty and encourage balanced participation of women and men in political life.
A Moroccan parliamentary delegation is now in Strasbourg for the Assembly's plenary session and has submitted its application to the PACE President. This will be considered by the Bureau of the Assembly on Friday. The procedure then requires the Bureau to transmit the application to the Political Affairs Committee for a report.