22/01/2013 | Session
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland today issued an impassioned call for Europe to reaffirm its collective and individual commitment to protect human rights, solidarity and democracy, but warned that widespread corruption was undermining citizens’ trust in the rule of law.
22/01/2013 | Session
Reacting to the interruption by the Russian Federation of intercountry adoption procedures involving the United States of America as a ‘receiving country’, Marlene Rupprecht (Germany, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Children, said that she was worried about the situation of Russian children who are taken as hostages of transatlantic diplomatic tensions and called on the Russian authorities to revoke the law.
22/01/2013 | Session
While welcoming the extension of the geographic scope of the EBRD’s mandate, in order to support the transition in those countries of the south and east of the Mediterranean which embrace multiparty democracy, pluralism and market economics, PACE today called on the Bank to step up co-ordination with the Assembly and other relevant bodies in order “to develop synergy in the wider European efforts to support the emerging democracies in the Arab world”.
22/01/2013 | Session
"The European Court of Human Rights is not only a cornerstone in the defense of fundamental rights, but also a reference point for national judges", declared the Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino, while addressing PACE on Tuesday, January 22nd.
22/01/2013 | Session
The committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today elected or re-elected their Chairpersons: Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy Pietro Marcenaro (Italy, SOC), re-elected; Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), re-elected...
22/01/2013 | Session
PACE has urged Council of Europe member states to come up with comprehensive strategies to end the “major structural problems” which are overloading the European Court of Human Rights with thousands of repetitive cases...
22/01/2013 | Session
Hans Peter Lankes, Vice-President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), today underlined the importance of the Bank’s relationship with the Council of Europe, and in particular with the PACE Monitoring Committee, as a forum for political scrutiny.
22/01/2013 | Session
At the end of a parliamentary debate, held on the basis of the report by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today decided “to continue the post-monitoring dialogue with the Bulgarian authorities in respect of reform of the judiciary, media freedom and transparency of ownership, as well as the revision of the Electoral Code."
21/01/2013 | Session
When adopting its final agenda at the opening of the Winter Session 2013, PACE decided to hold two urgent debates: on “Recent developments in Mali and Algeria and the threat to security and human rights in the Mediterranean region” and on “Migration and asylum: mounting tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean”...
21/01/2013 | Session
At the opening of its Winter Session, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today re-elected Jean-Claude Mignon as its President. PACE also elected its Vice-Presidents (in alphabetical order): Francis Agius - Malta; José Maria Beneyto – Spain; Fernand Boden - Luxembourg...
21/01/2013 | Session
At the opening of its Winter Session 2013, members of the Assembly stood for a minute of silence in memory of former PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, who died last month. “A fine companion and great friend has left us. Lluís Maria de Puig was one of the most enthusiastic agents in building the European dream embodied by our Council of Europe”, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon said.
21/01/2013 | Session
In his opening address at the PACE Winter Session, Assembly President Jean-Claude Mignon took stock of his action over the past twelve months. Having been re-elected for a new one-year term, he also presented the priorities for his presidency. "I shall naturally endeavour to continue into 2013 the action we initiated in 2012...