01/02/2008 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/C D ) and Evguenia Jivkova (Bulgaria, SOC), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, will be making a fact-finding visit to Baku from 4 to 8 February, to review this state's honouring of its commitments vis-à-vis the Council of Europe, and verify ten months later, the implementation of Resolution 1545 (2007) on this issue. Talks are scheduled with, among others, the President of the Republic, the President of the Parliament and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Interior and Justice. The co-rapporteurs will also be meeting representatives of the different political parties, NGOs and the media, and prisoners in their places of detention.
22/01/2008 | Monitoring
The voting system in the United Kingdom is open to fraud, and while it delivers democratic elections, this is despite vulnerabilities in the system which should urgently be addressed, according to a committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). In an opinion made public today, PACE’s Monitoring Committee said 2006 changes to the postal voting system had enhanced security, but shortcomings remained.
16/01/2008 | Monitoring
“Implementing reforms in Ukraine is a complex process and our talks confirmed this. This makes it crucial for all Ukrainian politicians to make use of the constructive climate which prevailed in the wake of the parliamentary elections in order to accelerate the reform process”, said the rapporteurs for the Monitoring Committee, Hanne Severinsen (Denmark, ALDE) and Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), at the end of their visit to Kyiv, which formed part of PACE’s monitoring of Ukraine’s obligations and commitments.
20/12/2007 | Monitoring
There should be “more balanced access” to public television in Armenia for all the candidates in the forthcoming presidential election, and the use of administrative pressure and police intimidation are “issues of concern”, according to PACE monitoring co-rapporteur Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD). In a statement on his recent visit to the country, made public yesterday, Mr Colombier also said the new Electoral Code, with recent amendments, was a good basis for conducting free and fair elections “if applied properly and in good faith”.
13/11/2007 | Monitoring
As part of the monitoring procedure on the honouring of Montenegro’s obligations and commitments, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD) and Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee, will be paying a fact-finding visit to Podgorica from 14 to 16 November. As this will be the committee’s first visit to Montenegro since its accession, the aim is to establish contact with the authorities in order to explain the monitoring procedure and consider the timetable for implementing the commitments.
10/11/2007 | Monitoring
Matyas Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), co-rapporteurs for Georgia of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), today expressed their conviction that it is in the interest of Georgia to lift the state of emergency as quickly as possible. The co-rapporteurs called upon the Georgian government to fully restore the normal democratic processes and functioning of the institutions. They reminded the Georgian authorities to strictly abide by the principles of the rule of law in all its actions and to comply with the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights, especially for the freedom of expression, information and association.
08/11/2007 | Monitoring
Following the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency by Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili, Matyas Eorsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), co-rapporteurs for Georgia of PACE Monitoring Committee will make a snap visit to Tbilisi from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 November to assess the situation on the spot.
31/10/2007 | Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee of PACE, which seeks to enforce the honouring of obligations and commitments by the Council's member states, will be holding a hearing on "frozen conflicts" in cooperation with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), at the Bundestag in Berlin on 5 and 6 November 2007, focusing on the situations in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.
05/10/2007 | Monitoring
The departure of Silvio Berlusconi from office has temporarily remedied the conflict of interest created by his position as both Prime Minister and owner of Mediaset, one half of the “duopoly” which dominates Italian television, but new laws are still needed to prevent such potential abuses of power in the future, according to PACE's Monitoring Committee.
19/09/2007 | Monitoring
“In a remarkably short time, Georgia has made stunning progress in carrying out substantial economic, judicial and state reforms. It has laid the foundations that should allow Georgia to become a prosperous liberal market economy and a fully-fledged democracy governed by human rights and the rule of law. Georgia has set an example for the whole region and beyond”, said Matyas Eorsi (Hungary, ALDE) and Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, sharing their preliminary impressions at a press conference in Tbilisi on 13 September 2007.
03/06/2007 | Monitoring
The co-rapporteurs of PACE's Monitoring Committee today called on Ukraine’s political forces to come to an agreement on building democratic institutions, carrying out legal reform and fighting corruption, despite political infighting. Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of an eight-day monitoring visit, Hanne Severinsen and Renate Wohlwend said they wanted to be able to recommend the lifting of monitoring but needed assurances from the Ukrainian authorities that they were “committed to engaging in serious, coherent and well-targeted reforms”. There were “positive signs”, they said, but “substantial concerns remained”.
11/05/2007 | Monitoring
Speeding up judicial reform, building consensus between ethnic groups and making the fight against corruption more effective will be among issues discussed when the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) meets leading members of the government of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” on Tuesday 15 May in Skopje. The committee is due to hold exchanges of view with Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, the President of the Assembly Ljubisha Georgievski, Vice-Prime Minister for European Integration Gabriela Konevska Trajkovska, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki and Justice Minister Mihajlo Manevski.