28/09/2006 | President
“It is time to deliver on the ambitious EU initiative to create a Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area by 2010, and find the appropriate arrangements to extend the trade area to cover agricultural trade,” said PACE President René van der Linden today, opening the 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Agriculture in Strasbourg, held on 28 September at the Council of Europe Hemicycle and the following day at the European Parliament. He acknowledged that neither CAP reform nor the Doha trade round had found a solution to agricultural trade with the Mediterranean region and that there was still an “economic gap” between it and Europe which was triggering illegal immigration.
26/09/2006 | President
René van der Linden, PACE President,has expressed support for the EU Commission’s recommendation today that two Council of Europe member states - Bulgaria and Romania - accede to the EU on 1 January 2007 under several strict conditions. “It was important not to lose the political momentum for accession, even if close scrutiny of several outstanding issues is deemed necessary,” he said.
25/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today warmly welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting at the Pope's residence near Rome with envoys from Muslim nations. “Mutual respect and commitment to defend and promote our common fundamental human values are a pre-condition for inter-religious and intercultural dialogue. I’m convinced that this meeting helped not only to overcome past misunderstandings, but also to set this important dialogue on the right track,” René van der Linden said. “It is my firm belief that, in Europe, the Council of Europe and its Assembly are the best placed to provide an ideal and natural forum for inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue”, he said.
25/09/2006 | President
PACE President, René van der Linden, made today the following statement: “I am saddened and disappointed by the executions of three men that took place in Sulawesi on Friday. Whatever their crimes, the death penalty is never justice. What is needed in Indonesia is not more death – which, as we have seen in recent days, only contributes to the violence – but a sincere dialogue between the religions.” No executions are carried out within the 46 nations of the Council of Europe.
15/09/2006 | President
At the end of a three-day visit to Kazakhstan, PACE President René van der Linden has expressed his recognition of the important role being played by Kazakhstan in the Central Asian region thanks to its stability and openness to the outside world, including Europe. "I strongly encourage the government's willingness to engage with European organisations, and particularly appreciate the authorities' desire to co-operate with the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly," he said.
13/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today strongly condemned the bomb attack at a bus stop in the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir that has caused the death of 11 people and injured at least 13 others. “I wish to extend my condolences, on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly, to the families of the victims.
13/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today called for “a new alliance between the secular and the sacred”, based on fundamental values common to both religion and democracy, in order to face the challenges of globalisation, migration and terrorism. Addressing participants at the Second Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan – which included representatives of the Islamic, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Shinto, Taoist and Hindu faiths – the President called on religious leaders to present “a united front” based on the common values of peace, justice, equality, tolerance and respect.
12/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will visit Kazakhstan from 13 to 15 September 2006, during which he will focus on inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue, as well as promoting Council of Europe values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law at a series of high-level meetings. On Wednesday 13 September the President is due to address the Second Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, on which occasion he will also hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of the main religions of Kazakhstan.
11/09/2006 | President
"On this sad day, on behalf of the victims of 9/11 and of other atrocities since, I want to make an appeal on behalf of one neglected asset in the long battle against terrorism: human understanding," said PACE President René van der Linden, recalling the need to win hearts and minds. He also again called for this fight to be carried out "within the tried and tested framework of international and human rights law - or it will not make us safer".
07/09/2006 | President
Reacting to yesterday’s statement admitting the existence of secret CIA prisons, PACE President René van der Linden said today that such methods would, in the long term, make us less safe, not more. “Kidnapping people and torturing them in secret - however tempting the short-term gain may appear to be - is what criminals do, not democratic governments. In the long term, such practices create more terrorists and undermine the values we are fighting for. Europe will have no part in such a degrading system.” The admission had vindicated the the work of PACE and its rapporteur Dick Marty, the President said.
07/09/2006 | President
In his speech at an international conference on inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue in Nizhniy Novgorod (7 and 8 September) Council of Europe Parliamentary (PACE) President René van der Linden today called for churches and other confessional organisations to receive an official status with the Council of Europe. “There is absolutely no reason why they should not officially have a status similar to that which has been granted to non-governmental organisations, taking into account their specificities,” he said.
05/09/2006 | President
PACE President René van der Linden today expressed his great surprise at a Dutch MP's proposal to boycott Wednesday's soccer match between the Netherlands and Belarus as a means of fighting dictatorship in Belarus. The soccer field was not a place for conducting politics, said Mr van der Linden. "Mixing politics and sport means taking a wrong and potentially dangerous path. A Dutch boycott of the soccer match with Belarus would represent a big step backwards and would ultimately do more harm than good to the citizens of Belarus," he said.