26/04/2004 | News
When adopting the order of business of its Spring Session (26-30 April), the Assembly decided to hold three urgent debates (Situation in Kosovo, Armenia and Cyprus) but removed the one concerning the new Dutch policy on asylum seekers. The debate on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Turkey has also been removed from the order of business. Elmir Jahić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Frano Matusić (Croatia) were elected Assembly Vice-Presidents.
26/04/2004 | News
The Assembly today issued an urgent call for the setting up of a European Migration Agency, open to non-European countries, whose task would be to track national migration policies and legislation, produce comparable statistics, analyse trends and dispense advice. Debating a report by Tadeusz Iwinski (Poland, SOC), the parliamentarians said such an agency could also help warn irregular migrants against being duped by traffickers.
26/04/2004 | News
According to the Assembly, Council of Europe funding priorities for 2005 should include creating the closest possible links with the EU, expanded co-operation with the OSCE and a possible permanent presence at the UN in New York, as well as more field offices. As for the Assembly’s budgetary priorities for the next year, they should include infrastructure improvements to the debating chamber, as well as greater funding for external relations, communications and its political groups.
26/04/2004 | News
Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder today signed a wide-ranging co-operation agreement with the Speaker of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Nurtay Abikayev aimed at promoting parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the country. In the agreement – the first of its kind – the Kazakhstan Parliament pledges to encourage total abolition of the death penalty and promote co-operation with the Council of Europe, reporting annually on its progress. In return, the Assembly agrees to invite Kazakh parliamentary delegations to its events, including some plenary sessions. Addressing the Assembly, Mr Abikayev declared: "Kazakhstan is firmly on the road to protecting fundamental rights and freedoms... and this is irreversible."
26/04/2004 | News
The 2004 Council of Europe Museum Prize was presented to the director of the Museum of Health Care in Edirne, Turkey, during a ceremony at the Palais des Rohan in Strasbourg last night. The prize consists of a bronze statuette by Joan Miró, La femme aux beaux seins, which will be kept by the museum for a year, as well as a diploma and cheque for 5 000 euros. It has been awarded annually since 1977 to a museum judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding of European cultural heritage.
08/04/2004 | News
Disappeared persons and the persecution of the press in Belarus, the honouring of commitments by Turkey and Albania, and Monaco's application for membership of the Council of Europe top the agenda of the Assembly’s spring session (Strasbourg, 26-30 April 2004). Reports on the strengthening of the United Nations, on euthanasia and on the situation of European prisons and pre-trial detention centres will also be debated. There have been requests for urgent debates on the situation in Kosovo and the new Dutch policy on asylum-seekers. Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader (Tuesday 27), Netherlands Prime Minister Peter Balkenende and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers Bernard Bot (Wednesday 28), and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev (Thursday 29) are among guest speakers.
02/04/2004 | News
The Assembly’s Sub-Committee on the Middle East, in co-operation with the Turkish delegation to the Assembly, held a colloquy on dialogue between Europe and the Middle East with the participation of academics, politicians and ambassadors from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the United States, Russia, Syria and Jordan. Themes for discussion included the Middle East in international politics and promoting democracy as a way to increase stability.
18/03/2004 | News
The national, regional and global causes behind high unemployment; fostering job-creation and mobility in Europe’s labour markets; and boosting social cohesion through the creation of more and better jobs were discussed in Paris on 26 March at a hearing organised by the Assembly’s Social and Economic Affairs Committees.
17/03/2004 | News
Assembly President Peter Schieder today expressed his shock and consternation over the loss of human lives during the outbreak of violence in Kosovo. He also extended his condolences to the families of the victims. He expressed his concern over the current situation and called upon Kosovo Serbian and Albanian leaders to exercise restraint and use all their influence to stop the violence immediately. "I hope the escalation of tension in Kosovo will not be allowed to continue”, Peter Schieder said. “We have to ensure that the process of stabilisation and consolidation of the rule of law in Kosovo goes on in order to guarantee the security and human rights of all Kosovo citizens", he stressed, calling for dialogue aimed at resolving the situation in a non-violent way. He also called on UNMIK to fully investigate all the circumstances of the outbreak of violence.
12/03/2004 | News
Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder will address participants of the conference organised on 18 March in Strasbourg to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).
02/03/2004 | News
"You have been far more than an ante-chamber for the European Union – for those countries, you have provided a facility for training and practice, an indispensable arena for dialogue. And for those countries remaining outside the European Union your Assembly continues to be a vital forum. It is especially important that the EU's enlargement does not create a new dividing line within the continent, and the pan-European institutions have a key role to play here", Jean-Louis Debré, President of the French National Assembly, said this morning, addressing the Assembly's Standing Committee.
02/03/2004 | News
Debating the risk of chemical, biological or nuclear terrorism, the Assembly's Standing Committee today called on governments to take a number of measures relating to public health. It invited member states to inform and educate the public as regards the inherent dangers of bio-terrorism, to draw up an objective assessment of the potential sources of bio-terrorist danger and an inventory of dangerous and sensitive sites and to devise emergency intervention and public health relief plans in case of bio-terrorist attack. The parliamentarians also called for strengthened co-operation, particularly at European level. "The creation of a two-speed Europe in the area of public health and safety must be refused," they said.