25/10/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE Rapporteur on strengthening co-operation with the Maghreb countries, made an official visit to Algeria (19-22 October) and Tunisia (22-24 October) to explore the possibilities of political, judicial, administrative and cultural co-operation with the countries of the region.
19/10/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE rapporteur on strengthening cooperation with the Maghreb countries, will visit Algeria from 19 to 22 October. Her schedule in Algiers includes meetings with the speakers of the two chambers of Parliament as well as the Prime Minister, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mourad Medelci. Mrs Durrieu will discuss questions regarding cooperation in all its forms, particularly in the area of promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. She will also focus on inter-faith dialogue in meetings with the senior religious representatives in the country. Mrs Durrieu is planning also to visit Tunisia and Morocco, as well as the seat of the Arab League in Cairo at the end of November.
15/10/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE), PACE Rapporteur of the Political Affairs Committee, will carry out a fact-finding visit to Belarus from 16 to 19 October as part of the preparation of his report on the situation in that country. He will meet a number of official representatives, including the speaker of the parliament and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice, as well as representatives of the opposition parties, civil society and NGOs.
15/03/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
A report on the state of democracy in Europe has recommended key ways to improve democratic functioning on the continent, including enlarging the right to vote, greater representation for women, more “direct democracy”, a free, pluralist media and civic education. The text – approved on Monday 12 March by PACE’s Political Affairs Committee – will be a highlight of an all-day plenary debate on human rights and democracy in Europe, scheduled for Wednesday 18 April.
12/03/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The PACE Political Affairs Committee today declared itself in favour of the Republic of Montenegro acceding to the Council of Europe, while enumerating a list of commitments to be honoured by this country. The text adopted, drafted by Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), welcomes the political will expressed by the Montenegro authorities to continue the reform process, while calling for concrete implementing measures. In particular, the committee noted the undertaking given by the authorities to adopt a new Constitution within a maximum period of one year and their intention of honouring the international treaties to which the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was party.
26/02/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Montenegro should be able to accede to the Council of Europe in the “very near future”, said PACE rapporteur Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), following talks today in Podgorica with Montenegro’s leaders. A final opinion could be approved by the Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on 12 March said the rapporteur, who met the President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament as well as leaders of political factions. He welcomed the constructive and positive atmosphere of the discussions and the “co-operative spirit” of the accession procedure so far.
13/02/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The Political Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris on 13 February, designated Andrea Rigoni (Italy, EPP/CD)as the rapporteur on the situation in Belarus. Mr Rigoni is one of the 20 PACE Vice-Presidents and leader of the Italian PACE delegation.
25/01/2007 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Parliamentary delegations from Armenia and Azerbaijan, meeting on the fringe of PACE's plenary session, have decided to begin a regular face-to-face dialogue on issues surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, with the support of the Assembly’s rapporteurs on these issues. They also agreed in principle to make a joint visit to the region in the near future, during which they would also meet with the displaced population, and agreed on the need to prepare their societies for any possible solution to the conflict.
12/12/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The rapporteur of the PACE’s Political Affairs Committee on the accession of the Republic of Montenegro to the Council of Europe, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), said at the last meeting of the committee on 11 December that he could not give an opinion until more headway had been made in Montenegro on the constitution. The rapporteurs for opinion of the Legal Affairs Committee, Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), and the Monitoring Committee, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), share this view. The report will not be examined therefore at the next plenary session of the PACE (22-26 January 2007).
13/11/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's Political Affairs Committte will meet on 14 November in Paris. On the agenda: Montenegro’s request to join the Council of Europe, the peril of using energy supply as an instrument of political pressure, the concept of preventive war and its consequences for international relations, possibilities for co-operation between the Council of Europe and Lebanon and compliance by observer countries with the values of the organisation.
08/09/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
The crisis in Lebanon, the ongoing violence in Iraq and the situation in Gaza are among issues to be discussed at a hearing on the situation in the Middle East organised by the Political Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) in Gaziantep, Turkey, on Tuesday 12 September 2006. Parliamentarians from Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian Legislative Council are expected to attend, and legislators from Lebanon and Syria have also been invited.
31/05/2006 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE Political Affairs Committee is organising in Paris on Friday 2 June a Parliamentary hearing on European Muslim communities confronted with extremism, in the framework of the preparation of a report on the subject by Daniel Goulet (France, ALDE). The hearing will look at case studies from France, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom.