07/03/2022 | President
“I deeply deplore the new law in Russia, which provides for prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information “discrediting” the military forces,” said PACE President Tiny Kox. “Several news media will suspend reporting in Russia to protect their journalists. This new law is totally...
04/03/2022 | News
Following the decision to suspend the Russian Federation’s rights of representation in the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly is to hold an extraordinary plenary session in hybrid mode on 14 and 15 March 2022. An urgent debate on "Russian Federation's armed attack against Ukraine: the...
04/03/2022 | Election observation
A pre-electoral delegation* of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Aleksander Pociej (Poland, EPP/CD), was in Belgrade to assess the pre-electoral climate and the state of preparation a month before the presidential and early parliamentary elections in Serbia...
04/03/2022 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
“I’m seriously concerned for the safety of African, Asian and Middle Eastern students as they flee Ukraine,” said Momodou Malcolm Jallow (Sweden, UEL), PACE rapporteur on a new Charter for a non-racist society. “We’ve seen increasing reports of racist violence and discrimination. The European...
03/03/2022 | President
“Thursday 24 February 2022 has sadly changed the course of history, with the start of the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine. There is no alternative to peace and constructive dialogue, but there are legally binding rules and principles that must be fully respected during an armed...
27/02/2022 | President
“I wholeheartedly welcome today’s initiative, just voted in the German Bundestag, to ensure that the Council of Europe does not suffer any medium or long term financial damage as a result of the Organisation’s decision to suspend Russia over its armed attack against Ukraine,” said PACE President...
24/02/2022 | President
“I am deeply appalled by the military attack of the Russian Federation against Ukraine that started last night,” said the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Tiny Kox. “I urge the Russian Federation to immediately end its military action and withdraw its...
23/02/2022 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE's General Rapporteurs on the freedom and safety of journalists, Mogens Jensen (Denmark, SOC), and on the situation of human rights defenders, Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), have expressed deep concern over reports that Icelandic police are conducting an investigation into whether four...
21/02/2022 | President
“I am joining the statement of Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić that the recognition of the so-called ‘peoples’ republics’ of Donetsk and Luhansk by the Russian Federation is in violation of international law and represents a unilateral breach of the Minsk agreements...
21/02/2022 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
On 21 and 22 February 2022, Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), rapporteur on "Pushbacks on land and sea: illegal measures of migration management", together with Stephanie Krisper (Austria, ALDE), rapporteur on "Safe third countries for asylum seekers", visited the border area between...
15/02/2022 | President
The Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Chair of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, Luigi Di Maio, the President of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, Tiny Kox, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić...
11/02/2022 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee (*) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which brings together around 60 of the Assembly’s leading members, is to meet in Berlin on 11 March 2022. The committee is due to be welcomed by Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, and will hold an exchange of...