22/06/2004 | Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly today made the following statement: “The October 31 elections are an opportunity for Ukraine to ensure full respect for the principles of pluralist democracy, human rights and the rule of law. A credible democratic election could reverse the current political trend in the country and give it a chance to anchor itself more firmly in the family of European democracies. However, the information on the current pre-election environment by the Committee’s rapporteurs who recently returned from Ukraine is a cause for great concern.
22/06/2004 | Monitoring
The Parliamentary Assembly today decided to end the monitoring of Turkey, declaring that the the country had “achieved more reform in a little over two years than in the previous decade” and had clearly demonstrated its commitment and ability to fulfil its statutory obligations as a member state of the Council of Europe. However, the Assembly resolved to continue “post-monitoring dialogue” with the authorities on a twelve-point list of outstanding issues.
11/06/2004 | Monitoring
Jerzy Jaskiernia (Poland, SOC), co-rapporteur on Armenia of the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, makes a fact-finding visit to the country (11-15 June) to assess the state of Armenia’s honouring of its obligations and commitments. He will meet parliamentarians, representatives of political parties and senior members of the government including President Robert Kocharyan, who is also due to address the Assembly in Strasbourg on 23 June. In April, the Assembly called on both government and opposition to engage in peaceful dialogue without preconditions.
25/05/2004 | Monitoring
The Assembly’s Monitoring Committee yesterday welcomed the "slow but steady" progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina in its first two years as a Council of Europe member state, noting a surge of legislative activity which produced new laws in key areas of reform, but said in a draft resolution that they now needed concrete implementation. In a separate report approved on Tuesday, the Political Affairs Committee called for a constructive debate among Bosnia’s political forces on the need for, timing and paramaters of post-Dayton constitutional reform. Both reports are due for discussion at the Assembly’s summer session.
24/05/2004 | Monitoring
Meeting in Budapest on 26 May, the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee is due to approve a report by Naira Shakhtakhtinskaya (Azerbaijan, EDG) and László Surján (Hungary, EPP/CD) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Bosnia and Herzegovina – the first assessment by the committee since the country joined the Council of Europe in 2002. A day earlier, the Political Affairs Committee is due to approve a report on the evolution and future development of democratic institutions in the country.
24/05/2004 | Monitoring
Hanne Severinsen (Denmark, LDR) and Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine, make a fact-finding visit to the country from 27 May to 3 June to assess the state of Ukraine’s honouring of its obligations and commitments. They will concentrate on the question of minorities. They are due to meet regional authorities and minority representatives in Transcarpathia – including Mukachevo, where they will look into the circumstances surrounding the recent mayoral election there – as well as Odessa and the Crimea. They will also be present during the parliamentary by-election in Odessa on 30th May. They are due to give a press conference at the Verkhovna Rada on 3 June at 1.15pm.
18/05/2004 | Monitoring
A new constitutional framework governing relations between the centre and the regions in Georgia could serve as the basis for a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to the country's monitoring co-rapporteur Evgeni Kirilov (Bulgaria, SOC). Mr Kirilov, speaking today at a conference in Tbilisi on "The constitutional organisation of the state", said Georgia could count on the Council of Europe's help in this regard.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, makes on 19-20 May a fact-finding visit to the country to assess the state of Azerbaijan’s honouring of the obligations and commitments it undertook on joining the Council of Europe in 2001. In a January 2004 resolution, the Assembly said progress was “far from satisfactory”. Mr Gross will meet with the Azerbaijani authorities as well as representatives of opposition parties, human rights organisations and journalists.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and André Kvakkestad (Norway, EDG), co-rapporteurs on Moldova for the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, make from 23 to 25 May a fact-finding visit to the country to assess the state of Moldova’s honouring of the commitments it made on joining the Council of Europe in 1995.
14/05/2004 | Monitoring
Evgeni Kirilov (Bulgaria, SOC), one of the two rapporteurs on Georgia of the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, will take part in a conference on "The constitutional organisation of the state", organised in Tbilisi from 18 to 19 May by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and the Georgian Constitutional Court.
29/04/2004 | Monitoring
The Assembly today welcomed Albania's progress in the last three years towards a functioning pluralist democracy and a state governed by the rule of law and respect for human rights. According to the rapporteurs, Jerzy Smorawinski (Poland, EPP/CD) and Soeren Soendergaard (Denmark, UEL), there have been improvements in the functioning of state institutions, notably the increasing influence of parliament in Albanian political life. However, this progress was threatened by organised crime, and some elements of legitimate business which wished to profit from the lack of regulation and control, exercising an illicit influence on public life, the parliamentarians said.
29/03/2004 | Monitoring
Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) and Erik Jurgens (Netherlands, SOC), who were designated by the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe to prepare a draft opinion on whether or not to open a monitoring procedure with regard to Latvia, visited the country from 29 to 30 March. Their report will be submitted to the Committee at its next meeting in Strasbourg during the spring session (26-30 April). The decision of the committee doesn’t interfere with the post-monitoring dialogue established with Riga since January 2002.