23/06/2025 | Elections
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ratified today revised guidelines for its election observation missions, aimed at strengthening integrity and transparency. Building on a PACE resolution adopted in April 2025 and focused on upholding the rule of law and combating...
23/06/2025 | Session
The 2025 Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment has been awarded to the Women of the Sun organisation from Palestine*, which seeks to create pathways and opportunities for Palestinian women to enter fields traditionally dominated by men, including in politics, business and technology. The 60,000...
23/06/2025 | Session
PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, opening the Assembly’s summer session in Strasbourg today, announced an address later in the week by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during his first visit to the Council of Europe, and urged “the final steps” towards the establishment of an...
23/06/2025 | Session
PACE today called on the Albanian authorities to demonstrate strong political will to address the shortcomings identified during the observation of the recent parliamentary elections (11 May 2025) “in order to ensure the alignment with European standards in electoral processes”. It called on the...
23/06/2025 | Session
The list of candidates for the post of judge at the European Court of Human Rights submitted by the United Kingdom; the observation of the recent elections in Albania and Poland, and of the upcoming elections in Republic of Moldova; the adoption of guidelines for the observation of elections by...
23/06/2025 | Culture, Science, Education and Media
Welcoming the finalisation of the draft Council of Europe Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the form of Series, the PACE Committee on Culture said it “commends its ambition to promote cross-border collaboration and cultural diversity”. However, adopting a preliminary draft...
22/06/2025 | Political Affairs and Democracy
“The release of Siarhii Tsikhanouskiy and 13 other political prisoners in Belarus is excellent news in today’s uncertain world,” said three general rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in a joint statement. “These releases are the result of unstinting efforts...
20/06/2025 | President
“We are surrounded by more words, more images, more opinions than ever before, and yet we are not necessarily better informed,” said PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos, speaking today at the opening of the Hackathon, an event organised by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, whose objective is...
19/06/2025 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
On the eve of World Refugee Day (20 June), Oleksii Goncharenko (Ukraine, ECPA), Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, made the following statement: “As 2025 World Refugee Day is celebrated with a focus on solidarity, I want to stress how vital it is that...
17/06/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Statement by Francesco Verducci (Italy, SOC), PACE General Rapporteur on Combating Racism and Intolerance, on the eve of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech (18 June): “In a climate marked by geopolitical tension, conflict and rising polarisation within society, hate speech is...
17/06/2025 | President
PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos has ended a two-day working visit to Bulgaria by welcoming the constructive attitude of the Bulgarian authorities as regards ongoing reforms and current political and institutional developments, including within the framework of Bulgaria’s ongoing post...
13/06/2025 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
"In the coming days, the Slovak parliament will be called to vote on proposed constitutional amendments. I am deeply concerned about the content of some of these amendments with regard to the protection of the rights of LGBTI persons," said Béatrice Fresko-Rolfo (Monaco, ALDE), General Rapporteur...