13/06/2005 | President
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), René van der Linden, today strongly condemned yesterday’s execution of four convicted murderers by the Palestinian Authority. "Death is not justice and will never be," he said. "The death penalty will not help to curb violence. In a long process of sharing our experience, we have succeeded in making the territory of our 46 member states a de facto death-penalty-free zone. Our ambition is now to extend it beyond the European continent," the PACE President stressed.
13/06/2005 | President
"The release of Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun is excellent news," PACE President René van der Linden said today. "Freedom of the media is the cornerstone of a democratic society and the overwhelming international solidarity shown demonstrates how strongly the international community feels about defending this principle. During a plenary debate next week in Strasbourg on ‘The media and terrorism’, Council of Europe parliamentarians will be looking at the broader issues behind this event, including how to protect journalists’ freedom to report without aiding terrorists."
10/06/2005 | President
PACE President René van der Linden will meet European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Monday to discuss how the Council of Europe can contribute to the EU’s neighbourhood policy, the remit of the new Fundamental Rights Agency and the so-called “Juncker report” on the relationship between the EU and the Council of Europe, among other things. He will also raise the question of the EU’s accession to Council of Europe conventions.
02/06/2005 | President
Addressing the 12th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, PACE President René van der Linden today underlined the need to re-connect Europe with its citizens. “For me, the biggest challenge is to bring Europe to the people. Closer to their views, hopes, ideas, and criticisms. Regrettably, today many of our citizens consider European architecture to be more an office building for bureaucrats rather than a home for themselves. We need to re-connect Europe with its citizens. This challenge must be met, in particular, by the two Council of Europe bodies that are composed of representatives having a direct democratic mandate from the citizens, namely PACE and the Congress”, he said.
02/06/2005 | President
René van der Linden meets the head of UEFA, Europe’s governing body for football, on 3 June to discuss, among other things, ethics and anti-racism in the sport as well as the possibility of establishing a Europe-wide prize with UEFA's backing.
02/06/2005 | President
René van der Linden strongly condemned the sentencing of Mikola Statkevich, Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, and of Paval Severinets, Youth leader of the Belarusian Popular Front, to two years imprisonment by a court in Minsk on 31 May, for “violation of public order” during a demonstration on 18 October 2004. PACE President commended the Head of the OSCE office in Minsk for publicly recalling that this demonstration was neither violent nor threatening. “These condemnations prolong the list of political prisoners in Belarus, which includes, among others, Mikhail Marynich,a former ambassador and parliamentarian and opposition leader whose immediate release from detention PACE demanded in March this year,” he said. He stressed that jailing opposition leaders will not bring Belarus closer to the Council of Europe. He recalled in this context that a satisfactory reaction was still expected to Assembly Resolution 1371 (2004) accusing several leading representatives of the Belarusian regime of being implicated in the enforced disappearance, or its cover-up, of several prominent opposition figures some years ago.
23/05/2005 | President
In a letter sent today to the Presidents of the two Chambers of the Romanian Parliament, Nicolae Vacaroiu and Adrian Nastase, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) President René van der Linden expressed, on behalf of PACE, his joy and immense relief at the release of Marie-Jeanne Ion and Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, journalist and cameramen respectively with the Prima TV channel, Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian of the daily newspaper România Liberă and their guide, who had been held hostage in Iraq since 28 March. “I would pay tribute to their fortitude and assure them and their families that we are delighted at their release. This excellent piece of news concerning their release also provides a new sign of hope as regards the fate of the French Journalist Florence Aubenas and her assistant Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, who have been held in Iraq for 138 days now. I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate our Assembly’s appeal for their immediate release. Our appeal is also a call to universal solidarity, because the abduction of journalists is an assault on the freedom of expression and information, which assault we must combat with all our strength.”
04/05/2005 | President
During his official visit to Rome on 3 and 4 May, PACE President René van der Linden discussed the preparations for the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May, in particular relations between the Council of Europe and the EU. The President's interlocutors agreed that the EU should make use of the Council of Europe's mechanisms and experience. René van der Linden expressed concern about certain initiatives of the EU Commission, such as the Human Rights Agency which could lead to double standards and new dividing lines at the expense of the tax-payer. René van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, met the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for Cultural Heritage, Rocco Buttiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
03/05/2005 | President
"It is often said that the freedom of the media – and freedom of expression in general – are the oxygen of democracy. If that is true, democracy in some parts of Europe continues to have respiratory difficulties. These range from an occasional lack of breath in some countries to persistent near-suffocation in others," PACE President René van der Linden said today on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day. He called on all Council of Europe states to refrain from adopting unnecessary restrictions on the free flow of information under cover of the fight against terrorism and to respect Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. "Security-motivated censorship will only serve the cause of the terrorists," he said.
02/05/2005 | President
The future of Europe and new strategies for addressing the serious problems threatening the continent are the main themes of the political talks that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dutchman René van der Linden, is to have during his official visit to Italy's institutions and government on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 May. Van der Linden, accompanied by Claudio Azzolini, leader of the Italian parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, will meet the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Foreign Minister, Gianfranco Fini, the Minister for the Cultural Heritage, Rocco Bottiglione, the Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Lamberto Dini, the Chair of the Senate Committee on EU Policy, Mario Greco, the Chair of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fiorello Provera, and the Chancellor of the Gregorian University, Father Ghirlanda.
21/04/2005 | President
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner responsible for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, meeting PACE President René van der Linden yesterday in Brussels, stressed that,the EU should make use of the Council of Europe’s experience and mechanisms. With a view to the Council of Europe Summit of Heads of State and Government, she said that this applied in particular to the EU’s neighbourhood policy. Moreover, preparatory work for the EU’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights could already start. Talks with European Parliament President Josep Borrell focused on closer co-operation between PACE and the EP, as well as their respective committees, on topics of common interest. Particular reference was made to inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue and violence against women, including domestic violence. They agreed that there was no need to re-invent mechanisms which have proven their efficiency, such as the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
19/04/2005 | President
“I would like to congratulate Pope Benedict XVI most warmly on his election. I trust he will follow the example of John Paul II in his pilgrimage for peace. I am confident that the new pontiff will be a firm ally of the Council of Europe in promoting the core values of our Organisation: human rights, democracy and the rule of law. I further hope that the new Pontiff will continue to build bridges to other religions,” Parliamentary Asssembly President René van der Linden said today.