06/09/2012 | Monitoring
Pointing to “ongoing political bickering” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the upcoming local elections, Karin S. Woldseth (Norway, EDG) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteurs monitoring the country, have said they are frankly doubtful that progress will be made on implementation of the Sejdić and Finci judgment, and the roadmap to a credible EU membership application.
05/09/2012 | Monitoring
The engagement and the mobilisation of more than 100,000 citizens following the December 2011 elections, the awakening of a very engaged civil society and the willingness of the authorities to hear the call for reforms have created in the Russian Federation “a momentum for change” and to realise this unique political potential, “Russian society needs concrete reforms”, PACE Monitoring Committee said at the end of its meeting in Paris.
03/09/2012 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee will be meeting in camera in Paris on 4 September 2012 to examine the report on honouring of obligations and commitments by the Russian Federation and adopt a draft resolution. In the document the co-rapporteurs, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), assess the political situation, the economic and social situation, external relations, the functioning of pluralist democracy, the rule of law, and human rights and fundamental freedoms.
21/08/2012 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for Georgia, Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) and Boriss Cilevičs (Latvia, SOC) today expressed their concern about the reports that the Georgian authorities have seized the bank accounts of the Georgian Dream opposition coalition, thereby undermining its participation in the election campaign for the parliamentary elections that will take place on 1 October 2012. “The excessive and disproportionate fines levied by the State Audit Service effectively undermine normal political activity by an opposition party," said the co-rapporteurs.
16/08/2012 | Monitoring
The PACE co-rapporteurs for Ukraine, Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), welcomed the release on Tuesday of Valeriy Ivaschenko, who was acting Defence Minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. At the same time, they expressed their hope that his release would soon be followed by that of Juriy Lutsenko and Yulia Timoshenko whose ongoing detention is of concern to the Assembly.
07/08/2012 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE rapporteur on the post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, welcomed the release of the Franco-Turkish student Sevil Sevimli. “We were gravely concerned over Ms Sevimli’s arrest and imprisonment. We have followed developments in this case, in liaison with the family. Moreover, under my terms of reference as rapporteur to the Parliamentary Assembly, I have set up a contact with the Turkish Minister of Justice,” explained Ms Durrieu...
13/07/2012 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), one of the PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of the honouring of obligations and commitments by Russia, will make a fact-finding visit to this country on 16-17 July, with a view to preparing a report to be discussed at the next session of PACE. During his visit, Mr Gross will meet representatives of the State Duma, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and of the Prosecutor’s General office. Talks are also scheduled in Nizhniy Novgorod.
28/06/2012 | Monitoring
If Ukraine’s Court of Cassation does not satisfactorily resolve the issue of the imprisoned former government members, President Yanukovych should intervene politically in order to resolve the issue, according to PACE’s monitoring co-rapporteurs for Ukraine Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD).
25/06/2012 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), have welcomed the pardon by President Aliyev and release of nine of the eleven prisoners of conscience still detained since the March-April 2011 demonstrations in Baku.
22/06/2012 | Monitoring
At the end of a fact-finding visit to Turkey from 17 to 21 June 2012, PACE’s rapporteur for post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) has urged the Turkish authorities to speed up the revision of the Penal Code and the anti-terror law in order to strengthen freedom of expression...
15/06/2012 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE rapporteur for post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, will undertake a fact-finding visit to Ankara and Istanbul from 18 to 21 June 2012. Talks are planned with the President of the Republic and with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Family and Social Policies of Turkey.
08/06/2012 | Monitoring
Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, will visit the country from 12 to 14 June 2012, to further assess the honouring of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe, in particular as regards the administration of justice, religious tolerance and local and regional democracy.