21/03/2021 | President
The German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, President of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, and the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Rik Daems, joined their voices to that of the Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Marija...
19/03/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has again recalled that the rule of law must prevail in the emergency situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic – and stressed that any laws linked to the pandemic should comply with the constitution and international standards. “Today’s debate – held as the crisis...
17/03/2021 | President
The need to find common ground and advance co-operation based on shared values and agreed equal standards was the focus of meetings yesterday in Moscow between Rik Daems, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and...
15/03/2021 | President
On the first day of his working visit to the Russian Federation, the President of the Assembly met with Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma, and Valentina Matvienko, Speaker of the Federation Council. Discussions focused on the 25th anniversary of the Russian Federation’s membership of...
09/03/2021 | President
Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will make a working visit to Moscow on 15-16 March, during which he will hold a series of high-level meetings, in particular with the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin; the Speaker of Russia's...
08/03/2021 | President
According to the PACE President, “men and women need to push together more forcefully for change to come. This is our responsibility, as citizens and as politicians.”For PACE Equality Committee Chair Petra Bayr (Austria, SOC), "we just can’t afford to keep ignoring the knowledge and experience we...
04/02/2021 | President
The German Federal Government’s Special Representative for the Presidency of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, State Minister Michael Roth, the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Rik Daems, and the Secretary General of the 47-nation Council of Europe...
22/01/2021 | President
The President of the Assembly presented to the Bureau the PACE activity report for the second half of 2020. The document details the five main priorities for the Assembly's action during this period: completing its workplan despite the difficulties of the pandemic, making the case for the...
07/01/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Daems, reacting to yesterday’s events at the US Capitol in Washington DC, has condemned what he described as “an assault on democracy by an extremist mob, incited by false claims and irresponsible statements at the highest political level”. “This is not America!” the President...
21/12/2020 | President
In an end-of-year video message, PACE President Rik Daems has extended warm greetings of peace and good health to citizens across Europe – and urged everyone to work together to tackle the coming challenges of 2021. “2020 has seen unprecedented challenges for all of us individually, for our...
14/12/2020 | President
The heads of the UN and PACE have agreed to step up co-operation towards building a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and called for a paradigm shift to turn this from a policy issue into one of “binding principle”. During a meeting in New York on 11 December, PACE President Rik...
09/12/2020 | President
On the occasion of the Human Rights Day 2020, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Rik Daems, made the following statement: “Human rights should not be allowed to become the collateral damage of emergency measures that are being taken to protect the lives and the...