20/04/2021 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly, during its “hybrid” spring session, held a current affairs debate on 'Covid passports or certificates: protection of fundamental rights and legal implications'. Damien Cottier (Switzerland, ALDE) opened the debate and 6 other members took the floor.
20/04/2021 | Session
“The Council of Europe’s overall priority is to remain the pillar of democratic security, the guarantor of human rights and rule of law, as well as platform for genuine multilateralism in Europe”, the Assembly said today setting out its vision of the Council of Europe's strategic priorities for...
20/04/2021 | Session
The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today elected Frédéric Krenc as judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Belgium. Mr Krenc, having obtained an absolute majority of votes cast, is elected judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of nine...
20/04/2021 | Session
Addressing parliamentarians at the Spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić was asked about the danger of imminent armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in the context of the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. She...
20/04/2021 | Session
In adopting a resolution today, based on the report by Georgios Katrougalos (Greece, UEL), PACE said that taxation was an essential tool for governments to raise the funds necessary for the proper functioning of public services, and that States needed to be provided with a broader tax base to...
19/04/2021 | Session
A minute of silence in memory of Cheryl Gillan At the opening of its spring session, the Assembly held a minute of silence in memory of Cheryl Gillan, “a great European and a most appreciated colleague who left us on 5 April,” PACE President Rik Daems stressed in his opening speech. “Dame Cheryl...
19/04/2021 | Session
PACE today elected, at the opening of its Spring 2021 Session, Vlad Batrincea as a new Vice-President of the Assembly in respect of the Republic of Moldova. Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next...
19/04/2021 | Session
In his opening speech at the PACE spring session, taking place in hybrid manner, PACE President Rik Daems warmly welcomed the presence of some 100 members of the Assembly in Strasbourg, as well as the first physical visit of a Head of State since the beginning of the COVID crisis, the President...
19/04/2021 | Session
“Where there is popular will, there is change. Where there is political will, there is genuine reform,” today said Maia Sandu, President of the Republic of Moldova, addressing the Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg. Referring to the recent Presidential election, she said that “people voted for...
19/04/2021 | Session
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the organisation of the Assembly's work; the detention of Alexei Navalny; the recent developments in Turkey; the situation in Belarus; the issue of Armenian prisoners following the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; elections observations, were among the topics...
19/04/2021 | Session
The Parliamentary Assembly today reaffirmed its support for the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities – the first legally binding instrument to recognise the rights and freedoms of persons belonging to national minorities as fundamental human rights, and a cornerstone in...
15/04/2021 | Session
On the occasion of the German Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth will participate in the spring session of PACE (19-22 April 2021) which will take place in a hybrid format. The President of the European...