21/10/2021 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
"Speakers of parliament have an unparalleled responsibility. Their role, your role, is to place yourselves above partisan politics to ensure the smooth running of debates, procedures and decision-making in the national interest. This non-partisan stance is not, however, synonymous with an absence...
21/10/2021 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
“The members of the Parliament of the Council of Europe - because this is how I like to call it - is not composed of directly elected members, but rather of members coming from your national parliaments, which makes PACE your Assembly, your Parliament,” said Rik Daems at the opening ceremony of...
21/10/2021 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
As part of the activities of the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance, the Swedish Parliament and the PACE Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee will organise a parliamentary conference on “Diversity, inclusiveness and non-discrimination against racism and intolerance in Europe” on 25 October in...
21/10/2021 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
“The coronavirus pandemic has been a real challenge for the entire global community and the institutions of democracy. We, parliamentarians, had to take unpopular measures, difficult decisions, often creating serious inconveniences in the daily lives of citizens.”, said the Speaker of the Russian...
21/10/2021 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
“As extreme weather events are felt across the globe, we must call for greater ambition and make environmental diplomacy a key to overcoming these challenges,” said the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Kakha Kuchava, addressing the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament. The recent...
20/10/2021 | Monitoring
At the end of a fact-finding visit to the Republic of Moldova (12-15 October), the monitoring co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (Latvia, EPP/CD) and Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), welcomed the determination of the Moldovan...
14/10/2021 | Monitoring
In Chisinau, where they are currently carrying out a fact-finding visit, the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Moldova, Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (Latvia, EPP/CD) and Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), made the following statement...
11/10/2021 | Monitoring
Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (Latvia, EPP/CD) and Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by the Republic of Moldova, will make a fact-finding visit to the country from 13 to 15...
08/10/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Daems has ended a three-day working visit to Poland, during which he met the Speakers of both Chambers of the Polish Parliament (Sejm and Senate), held talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau and other senior officials from the government, and held exchanges...
08/10/2021 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
On the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty (10 October), PACE General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty Vladimir Vardanyan (Armenia, EPP/CD) made the following statement: “This year’s World Day against the Death Penalty is dedicated to women who risk being sentenced...
04/10/2021 | President
PACE President Rik Dames today made the following statement: ‘The recent arrests and detentions in Crimea with regard to Crimean Tatars, including the Deputy Head of Mejlis Nariman Dzhelyal, raise serious concerns. This is all the more worrying as some of them, reportedly, were subjected to...
30/09/2021 | President
Welcoming the adoption by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) of some seven resolutions and five recommendations on the environment and climate change, its President Rik Daems announced the launch of the #EnvironmentRightNow hashtag initiative. “We need this initiative to go viral...