20/05/2025 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, meeting in Paris on 19 May, called on member states to strengthen the co-operation between public and private actors involved in migration management, whether in terms of first assistance, reception, or inclusion of migrants, refugees...
19/05/2025 | Election observation
The first round of Poland’s presidential election offered voters a genuine choice between political options, but it took place against a background of deep political polarisation that also impacted some key state institutions involved in the electoral process, international observers said in a...
19/05/2025 | Monitoring
Eerik-Niiles Kross (Estonia, ALDE) and George Papandreou (Greece, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Hungary, have made the following statement today concerning the draft law in Hungary on “transparency in public life”: “As...
16/05/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"In recent months, attacks against LGBTI persons have multiplied in a climate of hate. LGBTI persons have been targeted and stigmatised in certain political discourses that accuse them of various evils that have nothing to do with them. As parliamentarians, we have the responsibility to act and...
16/05/2025 | Political Affairs and Democracy
PACE's rapporteur on the situation in the Middle East, Dora Bakoyannis (Greece, EPP/CD), made the following statement today: "'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how,' wrote Nietzsche. In the case of Gaza, however, that 'how' has become unbearable. For all of us who fervently support a...
15/05/2025 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, meeting on 13 May in Paris, categorically reaffirmed indisputable legal and human rights considerations related to the Russian Federation's war of aggression against Ukraine. It stated that certain fundamental principles of international law, such...
15/05/2025 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
"Ukrainian children are non-negotiable. There can be no just and lasting peace without the unconditional return of all deported and forcibly transferred Ukrainian children. The safe and immediate repatriation of these children must form an integral part of any future peace agreement", today said...
14/05/2025 | Election observation
A 31-member delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), led by Iulian Bulai (Romania, ALDE), will travel to Poland from 16 to 19 May to observe the conduct of the presidential election on 18 May, alongside observers from the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions...
13/05/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Parliaments across Europe and beyond should declare the goal of achieving “gender parity” in their representation, backed by strategic plans, as one of a series of measures to ensure the balanced participation of women and men in all areas of parliamentary life, according to a PACE committee...
12/05/2025 | Election observation
Elections to Albania’s parliament were competitive and professionally managed, the authorities rose to the challenge of organising out-of-country voting for the first time and candidates could mostly campaign freely, but they were marked by widespread misuse of public resources and institutional...
12/05/2025 | Prizes
The deadline for submitting applications for the 2025 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize has been extended to 30 June 2025. The Prize, created in 2013, is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77...
12/05/2025 | Parliamentary support
On the occasion of the international seminar “Legal Certainty and the Quality of Law: Concepts, Challenges, and Comparative Perspectives", which took place in Rabat on 6-7 May 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reaffirmed its strong commitment to legal clarity...