23/10/2009 | President
At the end of his visit to Ukraine, and in view of the forthcoming Presidential election, PACE’s President today recalled the need for free and fair elections to confirm the democratic achievements of the country. Lluís Maria de Puig welcomed the willingness of the authorities to take into consideration the opinion of the Venice Commission on the Law on the Election of the President, as well as the readiness of the authorities to provide support and assistance to the work of the PACE observer delegation.
19/10/2009 | President
To mark the 3rd European day against human trafficking and the EU conference on the subject in Brussels from 19 to 20 October, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig today called on Council of Europe member states that had not already done so to sign and/or ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. He welcomed the establishment of mechanism to monitor this Convention - the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Being, or GRETA - and invited the EU to continue to co-operate with the Council, to avoid any duplication of monitoring arrangements, and to accede to the anti-trafficking convention as soon as possible.
13/10/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig has ended a three-day visit to Turkey by expressing his personal support for Turkey’s accession to the European Union and his conviction that continuation of democratic reforms will help the country achieve this objective. “I expressed my appreciation for the democratic reforms accomplished by Turkey, and encouraged the authorities to continue these in order to reinforce democratic institutions in the country, including through constitutional reform,” the President said. He also called for the creation of the institution of Ombudsman, and the extension of minority rights.
09/10/2009 | President
The Chair of the Committee of Ministers Samuel Žbogar, the PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland today made the following statement: "We are deeply concerned that Vasily Yusepchuk, a Belarusian citizen may face imminent execution after the Belarus Supreme Court has rejected his appeal against the death penalty. We appeal to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to grant clemency to Mr Yusepchuk, to declare forthwith a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Belarus, and to commute the sentences of all prisoners sentenced to death to terms of imprisonment".
08/10/2009 | President
PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig will be making an official visit to Turkey from 10 to 13 October. He is scheduled to hold meetings with the President, Abdullah Gül, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, Mehmet Ali Sahin, the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan (to be confirmed), the Minister for European Affairs and chief negotiator with the EU, Egemen Bagis, and the Chair of the Turkish national parliamentary delegation to the PACE, Mevlüt Çavusoglu. Mr de Puig will also hold talks with the leaders of the political parties represented in parliament.
15/09/2009 | President
Addressing today’s meeting of the General Assembly of the European Network of Local and Regional Authorities for the Implementation of the European Landscape Convention (RECEP-ENELC), the President of PACE pointed out that the Assembly has already adopted a recommendation on the conservation and use of the landscape potential of Europe.
14/09/2009 | President
During the course of five informal meetings between the Presidential Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Bureau of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, we have reached an agreement on a proposed package of measures to enhance dialogue and co-operation between the two statutory organs of the Council of Europe.
11/09/2009 | President
“Human rights are present in all spheres of society” said Lluís Maria de Puig, President of the PACE, at a Conference in Paris on the future of human rights and democracy in Europe. At the outset, the Council of Europe’s main aim was to seek universal solutions to specific situations; now it felt that each country should make its own contribution to universal issues such as terrorism, global warming and problems arising in the financial sector. Mr de Puig called for an approach which incorporated human rights into the response to political and economic issues.
02/09/2009 | President
“The agreement between Armenia and Turkey to normalise their relations is excellent news,” said PACE President Lluís-Maria de Puig. “This is something that PACE has long been hoping for, and working towards. The two governments have accepted that, whatever the difficulties of the past, they must look to the future – on behalf of all their peoples. The Assembly, a forum where Armenian and Turkish parliamentarians work together as colleagues, stands ready to help in any way it can to advance this process."
18/08/2009 | President
“I strongly condemn yesterday’s terrorist attack in Nazran, which will bring only further sadness and anger to this troubled part of Europe,” said Lluís Maria de Puig, the President of the PACE. “My thoughts are with those facing grief and distress.”
11/08/2009 | President
PACE President, Lluís Maria de Puig, and various Assembly rapporteurs expressed their grief and shock this morning following the murder in Grozny of Zarema Sadulayeva, head of the NGO "Save the Generation," and of her husband: "We have just been horrified to learn that the bodies of Zarema Sadulayeva, head of the NGO "Save the Generation," and of her husband, have been discovered lifeless in the boot of their car. We wish to pay tribute to the courage and commitment of Mrs Sadulayeva and above all to express our condolences to their family and our solidarity with their friends and colleagues.
07/08/2009 | President
On the eve of the 60th anniversary of PACE's first meeting, that took place on 10th August 1949, its President, Lluís Maria de Puig, gives a very positive account of its achievements, but recalls that the work of the Council of Europe and its Assembly as the “conscience of Europe” is far from over: “I am among those who consider the Organisation’s record after sixty years as very positive. At a time of budgetary austerity we can say that the Council of Europe represents “good value for money” for its Member States. It has successfully conducted a highly ambitious political project, bringing together under the same roof, around the same values, all the countries of a continent with a wide range of histories, cultures, languages and traditions...