29/09/2025 | Session
Standing before the original text of the European Convention on Human Rights, displayed in the Hemicycle to mark its 75th anniversary, the PACE President opened the 2025 autumn session stating that this text “is not simply a document on display. It is the very compass that has guided Europe for...
29/09/2025 | Prizes
The thirteenth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded to Ukrainian journalist and human rights defender Maksym Butkevych. The prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary...
29/09/2025 | Monitoring
PACE’s co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Türkiye, Lord David Blencathra (United Kingdom, ECPA) and Stefan Schennach (Austria, SOC), have made the following statement: “We are deeply concerned about the recent events and ongoing backsliding of democracy in Türkiye. In particular, we are alarmed...
29/09/2025 | Elections
Moldova’s parliamentary elections were competitive and offered voters a clear choice between political alternatives, but the process was marred by serious cases of foreign interference, illegal funding, cyberattacks and widespread disinformation, notwithstanding the authorities’ efforts to...
29/09/2025 | Session
According to the report presented today by Iulian Bulai (Romania, ALDE) in plenary session, the 2025 presidential election in Poland was “competitive, well managed, and gave voters a genuine choice”. The report emphasises that election day was calm and professional, and that the very high turnout...
29/09/2025 | Session
PACE today elected, at the opening of its Autumn 2025 session, Olta Xhaçka as a new Vice-President of the Assembly in respect of Albania. Nineteen Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session (but a Vice...
29/09/2025 | Session
The list of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by Cyprus and Hungary; the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize; the observation of the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova; and the World Forum for Democracy, were among the items in the...
26/09/2025 | Elections
How can democracies ensure free and fair elections when technology is transforming the way votes are cast, counted and observed? This question will take centre stage at the next meeting of the Parliamentary Alliance for Free and Fair Elections, to be held on Wednesday 1 October 2025, from 13:00...
26/09/2025 | President
PACE will launch an annual “Victory for Viktoria” commemoration to honour war correspondents and journalists who risk, and often lose, their lives defending the right to information and truth in conflict zones. The initiative was proposed by PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos and welcomed by...
25/09/2025 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
The rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on “The absolute and urgent need to end the humanitarian crisis for women, children and the hostages in Gaza", Saskia Kluit (Netherlands, SOC), made the following statement today: "I am appalled by last night’s...
22/09/2025 | Elections
A 21-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), headed by Chris Said (Malta, EPP/CD), will travel to the Republic of Moldova from 26 to 29 September to observe the parliamentary elections alongside observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the European...
20/09/2025 | President
“The struggle against crime and the need for international cooperation are part of the very fabric of political life and of our common European history,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos on 19 September in Valletta (Malta) at a conference of Ministers of Justice on cross-border...