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...
28/01/2021 | Session
“Freedom of expression is what distinguishes a democratic country from a dictatorship. In a healthy democracy there is freedom of speech. But the reverse is also true: freedom of speech is a prerequisite for that same democracy”, today said Bob De Brabandere (Belgium, EC/DA) opening a Current...
28/01/2021 | Session
PACE has ratified the credentials of the Russian parliamentary delegation by a large majority after they were challenged on substantive grounds on the opening day of the session – but has deplored a number of “negative tendencies” in the country with regard to democracy, the rule of law and human...
28/01/2021 | Session
European countries must pass laws to ban “ethnic profiling”, if they have not already done so, and encourage police forces to take stronger action against racist behaviour, PACE has said. Approving a resolution based on a report by Boriss Cilevičs (Latvia, SOC), the Assembly pointed out that the...
27/01/2021 | Session
PACE has approved a wide-ranging report making a series of ethical, legal and practical recommendations for the safe and fair worldwide deployment of vaccines against Covid-19, avoiding “vaccine nationalism” and encouraging their uptake in the face of “vaccine hesitancy”. The new vaccines should...