02/06/2006 | Monitoring
At a meeting to be held in Paris on Tuesday 6 June, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be holding an exchange of views with the Presidents of the parliaments of the State Union and Serbian (to be confirmed) and Montenegrin, on the consequences of the referendum in Montenegro. The co-rapporteurs, Milos Budin (Italy, SOC) and Charles Goerens (Luxembourg, ALDE) will be present.
02/06/2006 | Monitoring
Hanne Severinsen (Denmark, ALDE), who is visiting Bulgaria in the framework of post-monitoring dialogue with the country, today told a press conference: "Bulgaria needs to keep in mind long-term goals and perspectives, not the date of EU accession, in pursuing reforms". She also said the Venice Commission should be asked for its opinion on planned constitutional changes in Bulgaria, especially as regards the independence of the judiciary.
11/04/2006 | Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly(PACE), meeting in Strasbourg this morning, adopted the following declaration:"Since Bosnia-Herzegovina's accession to the Council of Europe, major progress has been achieved in building a stable, functional and efficient...
07/04/2006 | Monitoring
“The need for political stability and economic prosperity of Russia are no alternatives to the need to further develop democracy and human rights, both should go hand in hand,” PACE’s newly-appointed co-rapporteurs said at the end of their first visit to the country from 3 to 5 April 2006. In a press statement, Luc Van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) and Theodoros Pangalos (Greece, SOC) said Russia should set a “personal example” to other member states when it takes over the six-month Chairmanship of the organisation in May.
06/04/2006 | Monitoring
The Assembly’s co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Albania completed a three-day visit to the country today during which they met senior figures in the government, parliament and judiciary to update their assessment of Albania’s progress in fulfilling its commitments to the Council of Europe. Items discussed included the functioning of democratic institutions, electoral reform, the fight against corruption and organised crime, the functioning of the judiciary, implementation of legislation and local self-government as well as human rights issues such as freedom of the media and minority rights.
08/03/2006 | Monitoring
Charles Goerens (Luxembourg, ALDE) was today appointed as new co-rapporteur alongside Milos Budin (Italy, SOC) for the monitoring of the obligations and commitments of Serbia and Montenegro by the Monitoring Committee.
15/12/2005 | Monitoring
Georgia’s progress over the last year can be regarded as “generally encouraging” but this is still only a first step towards fully meeting its Council of Europe obligations and commitments, PACE's Monitoring Committee said in a draft report approved today.
15/12/2005 | Monitoring
In a declaration adopted today, the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) has urged the Ukrainian Parliament to carry out its constitutional duty and renew the composition of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine without any further delay.
28/11/2005 | Monitoring
At its meeting in Paris on 23 November the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe considered a memorandum submitted by the Rapporteur on Slovakia, Hanne Severinsen (Denmark, ALDE), and recommended the closure of post-monitoring dialogue. Having considered a memorandum submitted by the Rapporteur on Latvia, György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), the committee also recommended the closure of the post-monitoring dialogue for this country, and decided to prepare a revised memorandum for the next committee meeting.
16/11/2005 | Monitoring
The head of PACE’s Monitoring Committee György Frunda, during a visit to Moscow, has again called on Russia to abolish the death penalty in law – reminding the authorities that Russia is the only one of the Council of Europe’s 46 member states which has not yet done so. “There have been no executions in Russia for ten years – this is now an accepted fact,” he said. “So why is it so difficult for Russia to ratify Protocol No. 6?” Mr Frunda said he understood that public opinion was against abolition, but pointed out that the same was true for other countries which had taken this step, and called for more public debate on the issue. “The Council of Europe does not blackmail anybody. But every member state has to fulfil its commitments. We have been waiting ten years.”
14/11/2005 | Monitoring
The chairperson of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) monitoring committee, György Frunda (Hungary, EPP/CD), will be in Moscow from 14 to 16 November to discuss prospects for an early ratification of Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights (abolishing the death penalty) with the Russian authorities. Meetings are scheduled with the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly as well as representatives of the State Duma’s Legal Affairs Committee, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly, the Administration of the President and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
14/10/2005 | Monitoring
György Frunda (Romania, EPP/CD), the Chair of the Assembly's Monitoring Committee, visits Riga from 17 to 19 October 2005 to discuss progress in education reform and the speed of naturalisations with Latvian authorities as part of the Assembly’s "post-monitoring dialogue" with the country. He will meet the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister as well as leaders of minority groups, and will visit both a Russian-medium and a Ukrainian-medium school in Riga.