24/04/2013 | Session
Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly today, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta highlighted the climate of cooperation that currently exists between the government and the president of Romania, after the political crisis in 2012.
24/04/2013 | Session
PACE has called for a specific legal instrument encompassing the social, economic and political rights of young people to ensure their full protection. Approving a report by Michael Connarty (United Kingdom, SOC), the Assembly said a framework convention at European level was needed to improve young people’s access to fundamental rights.
24/04/2013 | Session
The Assembly called on member states to adopt a more holistic approach to education and to secure the provision of adequate resources for this sector, at least 6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
23/04/2013 | Session
Strasbourg, 23.04.2013 - I welcome the reaching of a draft agreement on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights and I applaud the spirit of compromise which enabled it to be concluded, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon said today, on the occasion of the PACE...
23/04/2013 | Session
The process of legislative and institutional change in Turkey is “ongoing but incomplete”, PACE has concluded in its first assessment of the country in five years. In a resolution adopted today on the basis of a report by Josette Durrieu (France, SOC), PACE recognised there had been many reforms in Turkey since 2004 – when the full “monitoring” procedure was closed – but said these only partially responded to the remaining problem areas set out by the Assembly.
23/04/2013 | Session
Addressing PACE on Tuesday, Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili appealed for European support to help his country build a better relationship with Russia. “The recently-begun dialogue between Tbilisi and Moscow should not create an impression that Georgia is dealing with this problem on its own and no longer needs the support of European partners,” said the Prime Minister.
23/04/2013 | Session
“Politics means building a country, a Europe, a better world for future generations,” said Didier Burkhalter, Vice-President of the Swiss Federal Council and Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in his address to the Parliamentary Assembly.
23/04/2013 | Session
The Assembly called for committed legal action and policies to fight effectively against child sex tourism. Following the proposals by the rapporteur Valeriu Ghiletchi (Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD), the Assembly called on European governments to develop, implement and monitor mechanisms that will “prevent high-risk sex offenders from travelling abroad”...
23/04/2013 | Session
The Assembly believes it is possible to step up the effectiveness of the Council of Europe ONE in FIVE Campaign even further and today recommended that the Committee of Ministers allocate adequate financing from the ordinary budget of the Council of Europe to the three dimensions of the campaign...
23/04/2013 | Session
The Assembly today urged its member States to take concrete measures to end discrimination against Roma children. The adopted text, based on the on the proposals by the rapporteur (Nursuna Memecan, Turkey, ALDE), stresses that these efforts should be aimed at improving the material living conditions of Roma families...
22/04/2013 | Session
When adopting its final agenda at the opening of the Spring Session 2013, PACE decided to hold a current affairs debate on "Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq: how to organise and support international assistance," on Thursday 25. The President of the Jordanian Parliament has been invited to address the Assembly in the framework of this debate...
22/04/2013 | Session
At the opening of its Spring plenary Session (22-26 April 2013), the Assembly today elected its Vice-Presidents with respect to Malta, Joseph Debono Grech ; Monaco, Jean-Charles Allavena ; and Romania, Ionuţ-Marian Stroe.