04/06/2010 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE), monitoring co-rapporteurs for PACE, have welcomed the clearly-stated objective of Ukraine’s authorities and ruling coalition to implement remaining commitments to the Council of Europe in the near future.
31/05/2010 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE), the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine, will make a fact-finding visit to Ukraine from 31 May to 4 June 2010. They will discuss the policy priorities and reform programme of the new government, as well as recent developments concerning media freedom, and the establishment of an agreed roadmap for adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the reforms needed to bring Ukraine into line with its Council of Europe obligations and commitments.
21/05/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note on the functioning of democratic institutions in Moldova, declassified by the Monitoring Committee on 19 May, the co-rapporteurs urged the majority coalition and the Communist Party to enter into constructive negotiations, showing the necessary political will to come to an agreement, on amendments to Article 78 of the constitution in order to facilitate the election of the President of the Republic, while fully availing themselves of the Venice Commission’s expertise.
09/04/2010 | Monitoring
Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) and Karin Woldseth (Norway, EDG), PACE co-rapporteurs for monitoring the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina, will make a fact-finding visit to Sarajevo on 12-13 April. During this visit, they will examine the progress of constitutional reform and the execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina.
01/04/2010 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteurs for monitoring the honouring of obligations and commitments by Moldova, will be making a fact-finding visit to Chisinau on 5-6 April. During this visit, the co-rapporteurs are due to meet the Acting President of the Republic and Speaker of Parliament Mihai Ghimpu, the Prime Minister Vlad Filat and the leaders of the parliamentary parties.
25/03/2010 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Armenia have welcomed the prompt response of the Armenian authorities to their call for a “roadmap” to put into effect the reforms recommended in the aftermath of the March 2008 election violence. “We welcome the wide range of reforms announced in the preliminary response of the authorities to our recommendation, but we would also like to stress that, in the end, it will be the content of these reforms, and their implementation, that counts,” said John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD).
22/03/2010 | Monitoring
Three rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have welcomed the decision by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to pardon 70 prisoners, including Ganimat Zahidov, the editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Azadlig. However, they regretted that Eynulla Fatullayev, another opposition editor, was not among those released.
19/03/2010 | Monitoring
Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), co-rapporteurs for PACE's monitoring of Georgia, will visit Tbilisi from 21 to 24 March 2010 for talks on constitutional and electoral reform, the forthcoming local elections and media freedom, as well as minority issues. They are due to meet the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Ministers for Re-integration and for Refugees and the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, among others.
19/03/2010 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) and György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), the new co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Russia, will make their first visit to the country from 22 to 24 March 2010 to assess the state of Russia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe. In Moscow, they will hold an exchange of views with the Russian authorities and political forces on this question, and make a preliminary political evaluation of the situation.
19/03/2010 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee has welcomed the progress made by Bulgaria since the last Assembly debate concerning that country in January 2000. The text adopted yesterday in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue states that the ruling centre-right movement GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) "has set ambitious objectives and committed itself to continue democratic reforms", in particular to guarantee the proper functioning of justice and combat corruption and organised crime.
17/03/2010 | Monitoring
Karin Woldseth (Norway, EDG) was today appointed as co-rapporteur for the Assembly’s monitoring of Bosnia and Herzegovina, alongside Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD). She replaces Mevlüt Çavusoglu, who was recently elected as President of the Assembly.
17/03/2010 | Monitoring
While welcoming Montenegro’s substantial progress in implementing its commitments since accession to the Council of Europe in 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly's Monitoring Committee this morning called on the Montenegrin authorities to "maintain the current reform dynamic in order to catch up with the deadlines" and complete the implementation of the remaining post-accession commitments.