04/10/2007 | Session
More than ever, according to the Assembly, multilateralism and a collective response to global threats are the only ways to meet the complexity of today’s challenges, especially for new threats of terrorism and WMD proliferation. Council of Europe member states should reject the principle of unilateral preventive war, parliamentarians said, drawing lessons from its disastrous application in the recent past. However, they should also support the urgent reform of the Security Council to enable it to play the role originally envisaged for it, of rapidly and efficiently deciding the response to international threats.
03/10/2007 | Session
The Assembly has unanimously proposed preparation of a European convention to promote public health policies aimed at fighting drug abuse. The rapporteur, Paul Flynn (United Kingdom, SOC), emphasises that various public health measures, such as substitution treatment, needle exchange programmes and psychosocial treatment, have in recent decades proved effective in rehabilitating narcotics-users and helping to reduce crime, cut health and legal expenditure, and also reduce the risks of HIV transmission.
03/10/2007 | Session
PACE parliamentarians today approved the current focus of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on promoting sustainable development and fighting corruption, but warned that recent weakness in the US housing market, and particularly problems with “sub-prime mortgages”, meant global economic prospects were now “less buoyant” than previously thought. PACE, which acts as the parliamentary forum for the 30-nation OECD, also gave its backing to recent moves by the organisation to expand its membership. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria also addressed the Assembly.
03/10/2007 | Session
The Council of Europe is facing the most serious crisis in its history, the Assembly warned. The European Court of Human Rights is swamped by the number of applications and its current resources are insufficient for it to meet its obligations. The Court’s additional needs are partly offset by cuts in the funds allocated to other Council activities. Consequently, In failing to face up to their responsibilities, and condemning all the other sectors of activity to a slow death, the governments run the risk of jeopardising the Council of Europe’s political role. The Assembly, parliamentarians said, has a duty to respond firmly to save the organisation from planned collapse.
03/10/2007 | Session
''This vote sends an important political message and will encourage Moldova’s political leaders and people in their hopes of joining the European Union,'' declared Marian Lupu, President of the Moldovan Parliament, on 2 October, following the debate on Moldova’s compliance with its obligations. He said that the Moldovan authorities had accepted firm commitments two years previously and had now – thanks to the combined efforts of all the country’s political forces – made good its promises.
03/10/2007 | Session
Since the last monitoring report in 2005, Moldova has advanced significantly on the path of democratic reforms, the Assembly said, and the Parliament has passed an impressive number of laws dealing with the country’s commitments to the Council of Europe. But parliamentarians said it is now time the Moldovan authorities take all the necessary steps to make the new legal framework fully operational. Further improvements should also be made to the legislation on the judiciary, the general prosecutor’s office, political parties and local self-government. Against this background, the Assembly invited the Moldovan authorities to take concrete measures in order to move closer to honouring all the country’s commitments, so that the closing of the monitoring procedure may be envisaged in the foreseeable future.
03/10/2007 | Session
PACE recommended today that regional self-government be regarded not as a problem or a danger but as an effective, unifying means of giving regions a say in political decision-making at both national and European level. In the view of PACE, regionalism, in its various forms, offers guarantees of greater political stability and greater respect for the Council of Europe's values, in particular as regards the spread of democracy.
03/10/2007 | Session
PACE today debated both the opportunities and risks that globalisation represents for the member states of the Council of Europe. In order to maximize the benefits, while maintaining the high standards of social protection and with a view to ensuring that these benefits are widely and equitably shared, PACE called on European leaders to campaign for a vision that combines both prosperity and social protection in the new economic world.
03/10/2007 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), meeting this week in plenary session in Strasbourg, yesterday elected twelve judges to the European Court of Human Rights. Judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from lists of three candidates nominated by each State which has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. Judges are elected for six years and can be re-elected.
03/10/2007 | Session
Turkish President Abdullah Gül, addressing the Assembly today, said his country was fulfilling its commitment to live up to “the highest standards” of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, outlining a series of reforms to improve gender equality, ban discrimination, ensure freedom of expression, upgrade cultural and religious rights and continue its “zero tolerance” policy on torture. Effective implementation “still poses a few challenges”, he said, but pledged the government would give “top priority” to addressing them.
02/10/2007 | Session
The Assembly today said is deeply worried about the fact that a number of cases involving the alleged killing, disappearance, beating or threatening of applicants initiating cases before the European Court of Human Rights have not been fully and effectively investigated by the competent authorities. The parliamentarians urged all member states to fully co-operate with the Court and in particular to cease acts of intimidation against applicants and their lawyers.
02/10/2007 | Session
''Serbia is committed to a democratic solution for Kosovo’s future status which will be based on the three pillars that form the foundations of Europe: human rights, democracy and the rule of law,'' Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said in his address to the Assembly on 2 October. Mr Koštunica said that Serbia’s goal was to ''secure development and prosperity of the ethnic Albanian minority and of the whole country through a negotiated democratic settlement.'' He added: ''violent and unilateral solutions would seriously endanger peace and stability and jeopardize not only the Balkans but the entire international order.''