25/09/2026 | President
Petra Bayr, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement on the eve of the European Day of Languages (26 September 2026), during a visit to the 2026 Graz Language Festival and the European Centre for Modern Languages: ‘“Languages unite...
22/09/2026 | President
A parliamentary round table on the topic Fake ‘elections’ in Russia: what next? will take place at 1 p.m. on Monday 28 September, on the margins of the Assembly’s Autumn plenary session in Strasbourg, livestreamed via the Assembly’s YouTube channel. The event is organised by the PACE Platform for...
18/09/2026 | President
The following statement was issued today by the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE): “It is already clear: the so-called ‘elections’ to the State Duma beginning today will not meet international democratic standards...
17/09/2026 | President
“I welcome yesterday’s important judgment by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the case of Hashim Thaçi and his co-defendants, who have all been convicted at first instance of war crimes including arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder committed during the Kosovo* conflict...
16/09/2026 | President
By creating the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces in October 2025, PACE became the first international body that “formalised and institutionalised dialogue with the other Russia,” said PACE President Petra Bayr in Washington today, opening a meeting of the Washington Dialogue...
27/08/2026 | President
On the occasion of the International day of the victims of enforced disappearance (30 August), and twenty years after the adoption of the United Nations International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, PACE President Petra Bayr is urging the 18 Council of...
02/08/2026 | President
PACE President Petra Bayr, together with an ad hoc committee of the Bureau, took part in the official ceremony marking European Roma Holocaust Memorial Day at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. The annual commemoration honours the memory of the Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust, including the...
22/06/2026 | Session
PACE President Petra Bayr, opening the summer plenary session of PACE this morning in Strasbourg, has hailed the resilience of the Parliamentary Assembly in pressured times – and pledged its readiness to provide leadership on fundamental issues of human rights and democracy. “There are moments in...
18/06/2026 | President
Petra Bayr, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made the following statement today: “On the occasion of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s 81st birthday tomorrow, I call once again for her immediate and unconditional release. For decades, Peace Nobel Prize winner Aung...
18/06/2026 | President
“Hate speech dehumanises. It tells a person or a group of people that they are worth less, that they do not belong, that they are a threat. Once that message takes hold, discrimination, and even violence, follow,” said PACE President Petra Bayr today, addressing a conference on “Countering hate...
04/06/2026 | President
“Momentum is growing internationally and across Europe towards recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” said PACE President Petra Bayr in a statement to mark World Environment Day (5 June 2026), urging Council of Europe states to move towards formal recognition...
01/06/2026 | President
During an official visit to Greece, PACE President Petra Bayr held a series of high-level meetings with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Vice-President of the Hellenic Parliament Athanasios Bouras and Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis, as well as with representatives of...