12/10/2010 | Monitoring
PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), have called on the Georgian Parliament not to adopt the amendments to the constitution before the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe’s group of independent experts in constitutional law – has given its opinion on them, and only after its recommendations have been taken into account and addressed.
14/09/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note published last Thursday on their fact-finding visits to Moscow and Murmansk in March and July 2010, the PACE co-rapporteurs on Russia, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), welcomed the tangible progress made in some areas since the last monitoring report in 2005. They were concerned, however, about a failure to liberalise electoral legislation sufficiently and considered that more progress was needed to strengthen pluralist democracy and speed up the reform of justice.
10/09/2010 | Monitoring
PACE Monitoring Committee has welcomed the political will being shown by the new government in Ukraine for an “ambitious and far-reaching package of reforms” – but warned that they were being implemented in a hasty manner. In a draft resolution unanimously approved yesterday at a meeting in Paris, the committee said the reforms needed “wide political consensus and public support”, which in turn was only possible if parliamentary procedures and democratic principles were strictly respected.
20/07/2010 | Monitoring
Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia, have expressed their satisfaction with the positive political developments that have taken place following the recent local elections in Georgia. At the end of a five-day visit to Tbilisi (12-16 July 2010), the co-rapporteurs said: “The efforts of both authorities and part of the opposition to maintain a constructive dialogue and to secure the opposition’s rightful place in the governance of the country are an important step for the consolidation of democracy in Georgia.” But they underscored that the planned electoral and constitutional reforms should be based on an all-inclusive process.
09/07/2010 | Monitoring
Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Jensen (Denmark, ALDE), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia, will make a fact-finding visit to this country from 12 to 15 July, as part of their ongoing assessment of the honouring of Georgia’s Council of Europe obligations and commitments. Discussions should focus on the reform of the justice sector, human rights protection, decentralisation and local self-government, media pluralism as well as the fight against corruption.
02/07/2010 | Monitoring
PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD) and Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC) will make a fact-finding visit as part of their ongoing assessment of the state of Russia’s honouring of its Council of Europe obligations and commitments.
28/06/2010 | Monitoring
Democratic development in Georgia “continues unabated”, despite some set-backs and despite the war, PACE’s two monitoring co-rapporteurs on the country have said. In an information note on their visit to Tbilisi in March, made public today, Kastriot Islami (Albania, SOC) and Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) welcomed a second wave of democratic reforms which took place in the aftermath of the war.
24/06/2010 | Monitoring
PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia, John Prescott (United Kingdom, SOC) and Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD), have welcomed a series of initiatives outlined in the reply of the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament to their letter recommending the establishment of a clear roadmap for reforms in Armenia. While not able to give a detailed assessment of the initiatives outlined in the letter at this stage, they cautioned that more needs to be done to ensure that the reforms address the important issues raised by the Assembly.
23/06/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note on their fact-finding visit to Kyiv (1-4 June 2010), declassified by the Monitoring Committee on 22 June, the co-rapporteurs Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) express their concern about the increasing number of allegations that democratic freedoms, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of the media have "come under pressure in recent months". Any regression in the respect for and protection of these rights, they said, "would be unacceptable for the Assembly".
23/06/2010 | Monitoring
In an information note on recent developments in Moldova, declassified by the Monitoring Committee on 22 June, the co-rapporteurs Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD) underline one more time that "it is imperative that the present institutional crisis be swiftly resolved". They call for the organisation of a referendum on the choice of the presidential election procedure as "the sole possible solution". This will allow, they say, to give the present political class "a clear indication of the voters’ choice".
04/06/2010 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE), monitoring co-rapporteurs for PACE, have welcomed the clearly-stated objective of Ukraine’s authorities and ruling coalition to implement remaining commitments to the Council of Europe in the near future.
31/05/2010 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE), the co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Ukraine, will make a fact-finding visit to Ukraine from 31 May to 4 June 2010. They will discuss the policy priorities and reform programme of the new government, as well as recent developments concerning media freedom, and the establishment of an agreed roadmap for adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the reforms needed to bring Ukraine into line with its Council of Europe obligations and commitments.