05/01/2010 | Monitoring
Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD) and Joseph Debono Grech (Malta, SOC), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Azerbaijan, and Christoph Strässer (Germany, SOC), rapporteur on the follow-up to the issue of political prisoners in Azerbaijan by PACE, today welcomed the decision by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev on 25 December 2009 to pardon 99 prisoners. Some of these prisoners are on the lists of alleged political prisoners of local human rights NGO’s. The pardoning decree also includes opposition Bizim Yol newspaper correspondent Mushvig Huseynov, who has been mentioned in PACE reports.
23/12/2009 | Monitoring
“We have taken note of the final judgment by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights which says that prohibiting a Rom and a Jew from standing for election to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly and for the State Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts to discrimination and breaches their electoral rights,” the PACE co-rapporteurs on the functioning of democratic institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), said on 23 December.
22/12/2009 | Monitoring
The recommendations of the ad hoc Committee of the National Assembly of Armenia into the events of 1 and 2 March 2008 provide “a comprehensive, although not complete” response to the political crisis, according to an information note by PACE's co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Armenia made public this week.
21/12/2009 | Monitoring
PACE's monitoring co-rapporteurs for Ukraine have expressed their concern at current attempts in the Verkhovna Rada to suspend the enactment of three laws of the anti-corruption package adopted last June – which, among other things, prohibit the private funding of courts – and called for their rapid implementation. “The funding of the courts outside the government budget, ie. with private means, would be a continuous potential for corruption and run counter to European standards,” said Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD) and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (Germany, ALDE) in an information note made public this week.
21/12/2009 | Monitoring
PACE rapporteurs have welcomed the release of three more Georgian teenagers by the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali. “This is good news,” said Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary, ALDE), co-rapporteur on the war between Georgia and Russia, and Corien Jonker (Netherlands, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the humanitarian consequences of the war. “We hope this will help to lower tension in the region, which is sorely needed, and may herald further releases of prisoners on both sides.”
17/12/2009 | Monitoring
Only urgently-needed Constitutional reforms can unblock the “deadlock” within the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a PACE committee said in a draft report approved in Paris today. The report – by Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD) – demanded “meaningful and constructive dialogue” between all domestic stakeholders on concrete proposals to amend the Constitution ahead of the autumn 2010 elections.
17/12/2009 | Monitoring
In a draft resolution adopted in Paris today, PACE Monitoring Committee urges the Albanian government and opposition to put an end to the current political crisis and assume their responsibilities in order to proceed with vital reforms. The government should set up, without further delay, a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the June 2009 elections and the opposition should return to parliament and fully participate in its work, the committee said.
11/12/2009 | Monitoring
A press briefing is held today at 11.30 am at the Council of Europe office in Paris, in connection with the adoption of the report of Mevlüt Çavusoglu (Turkey, EDG) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of PACE, who are monitoring Bosnia and Herzegovina's commitments and obligations to the Council of Europe.
11/12/2009 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), co-rapporteur of PACE for the monitoring of Ukraine, announced on Tuesday an agreement on the establishment of a clear roadmap for the adoption of the legal reforms demanded by the Council of Europe.
07/12/2009 | Monitoring
Josette Durrieu (France, SOC) and Egidijus Vareikis (Lithuania, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of the obligations and commitments of Moldova, today made the following statement: "We have taken note of the results of the second round of the presidential election in Moldova, which took place today, and we note that the institutional deadlock continues."
04/12/2009 | Monitoring
As part of the post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria, Serhiy Holovaty (Ukraine, ALDE), Chair of PACE Monitoring Committee, will travel to Sofia on 7-8 December on a fact-finding visit. This will include meetings with the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva, the Minister of the Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the Minister of Justice Margarita Popova, the President of the Supreme Court Lazar Gruev and the Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev.
04/12/2009 | Monitoring
Renate Wohlwend (Liechtenstein, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteur on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Ukraine, will make a fact-finding visit to Kyiv on 7-8 December, during which she will examine the legal framework for the presidential elections on 17 January 2010, and take stock of the reform of the Prokuratura (Office of the Public Prosecutor), the reform of the judiciary and the drafting of a unified election code.