09/05/2007 | President
“It has been a long time coming, but the wait was well worth while,” said PACE President René van der Linden today, commenting on the Northern Ireland Assembly as it reconvened for the first time in over four-and-a-half years. “To see Mr Paisley and Mr McGuiness take office as First Minister and Deputy First Minister, to see them smiling side-by-side as partners in this exciting moment: this is truly inspiring and, I am confident, a sign of happier times to come, since it will contribute to the development of a stable and prosperous northern Ireland,” he continued.
02/05/2007 | President
"This month, our Assembly launched a unique new initiative – an Annual report on the state of human rights and democracy in Europe, which must become the essential reference on the state of democracy and human rights in Europe. We have invited all our national parliaments to hold their own debates on the report, to ensure that governments take these issues much more seriously, both at home and abroad", PACE President René van der Linden said on 1st May adressing the 116th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
27/04/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden has expressed his deep concern over last night’s turbulent events in the centre of Tallinn, Estonia, during which demonstrators and police were injured and one person died. He regretted the decision of the Estonian authorities to remove the Bronze Soldier memorial as this act, rather then building bridges, is widening the rift between the country’s citizens of Estonian and Russian origin.
26/04/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden is to take part in the 116th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Denpasar, Indonesia, from 29 April to 3 May. He will also hold several bilateral meetings on the fringe of the meeting, including with the Indonesian Foreign Minister. Earlier in Jakarta (26-28 April), he will meet Indonesia’s Justice Minister, as well as the Chair of the country’s Human Rights Commission, to discuss co-operation with the Council of Europe and promoting inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue.
23/04/2007 | President
Following the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, PACE President René van der Linden today declared: "I want to pay tribute to Russia's first democratically elected President. For the Council of Europe, Boris Yeltsin will be remembered as the man who brought the Russian Federation to the European family of common values based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Under his Presidency, he instituted a moratorium on executions in Russia. Boris Yeltsin will be remembered as the symbol of the irreversibility of the transition to democracy in Russia."
20/04/2007 | President
“The Assembly is disappointed by the overall content of the draft memorandum. It does not contain precise and concrete commitments requiring the parties to make substantial additional efforts to enhance co-operation. It does not provide an innovative or ambitious approach to challenges faced by the European construction,” PACE declared following a debate on the draft memorandum. The Assembly considers that the draft text does not sufficiently reflect the proposals and recommendations contained in the report by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, or opinions previously expressed by PACE and its President. Parliamentarians also pointed out that if the co-operation between the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers on this issue is to be meaningful, the Assembly’s position must also be taken into account when finalising the document.
20/04/2007 | President
"I wish I could have said that Europe is free of anti-semitism, free of hatred and intolerance, but we all know that this is not yet the case. The work of collective memory therefore is all the more fundamental to prevent a repetition of history," stressed René van der Linden announcing that PACE will give its support and patronage to the Third International Forum of the World Holocaust Forum (Germany, November 2008) which will mark 70 years since the Kristallnacht.
18/04/2007 | President
The International Museum of the Reformation in Geneva last night received the 2007 Council of Europe Museum Prize in a formal ceremony at the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg. In the presence of the Mayor of Strasbourg, PACE President René van der Linden awarded the prize – a bronze statuette by Joan Mirò, a diploma and a cheque – to the Museum’s director Dr Isabelle Graesslé.
18/04/2007 | President
'The report we discuss today must be put at the top of the political agenda and become the essential reference on the state of democracy and human rights in Europe', PACE President René van der Linden said today at the opening of the special debate on the state of human rights and democracy in Europe organised by the PACE. 'I invite all our national parliaments to hold their own debates on the report, to ensure that governments take these issues much more seriously both at home and abroad', he added. Representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and of the main Council of Europe human rights monitoring mechanisms, as well as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, will address the Assembly during the debate.
03/04/2007 | President
Following yesterday’s Presidential Decree dissolving the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament), PACE President René van der Linden today made the following declaration: "The Parliamentary Assembly views the current political developments in Ukraine with great concern. The situation that has emerged needs to be resolved in full compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine, and through the legal avenues it offers, as well as through a constructive dialogue between all political forces represented in the Parliament."
02/04/2007 | President
On the occasion of his meeting with Cardinal State Secretary Tarcisio Bertone, who is in charge of the Holy See's political and diplomatic activities, PACE President René van der Linden reiterated his invitation to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to address the Parliamentary Assembly at one of its forthcoming plenary sessions.
29/03/2007 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today received the “Premio Mediterraneo” Award of the Fondazione Mediterraneo, the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Cultural and Social Dialogue, at a ceremony in Naples (Italy). According to the Foundation, Mr van der Linden "has contributed with his political action to the spreading of the values of dialogue in the area of the Greater Mediterranean”.