22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
"Since Austria joined the Council of Europe in 1956, there has been a very strong connection between our parliament and your Parliamentary Assembly," said the President of Austria's Federal Council Reinhardt Todt.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
"I am very well-acquainted with PACE and I want us to work together more closely,” said Michael Spindelegger, addressing the Standing Committee in Vienna, setting out the priorities of the Austrian Chairmanship for the coming six months.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
Europe urgently needs to draw up common standards for treating the estimated 300,000 irregular migrants and failed asylum seekers who are forced to return to their home countries every year.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
In a resolution adopted by the Standing Committee, the Assembly called on Council of Europe members to engage in “more active and efficient international co-operation” in combating drug traffic from Afghanistan.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee, examining a report by Rafael Huseynov, recalls that the majority of Council of Europe conventions are open to non-member States, but few of them have availed themselves of this opportunity.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
In order to strengthen “the constructive criticism the Assembly needs to send”, the Standing Committee adopted amendments to the opinion on the draft Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
“2013 will prove to have been a turning point in combating violence against women,” said José Mendes Bota ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
22/11/2013 | Standing Committee
The Standing Committee has laid down new guidelines for the conduct of members of the Assembly, who should now be asked to “conduct themselves in a courteous, polite and respectful manner” during debates.
22/11/2013 | Political Affairs and Democracy
Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin will make a fact-finding visit to Athens on 25-26 November as part of the preparation of her report on “Counteraction to manifestations of neo-Nazism and xenophobia”.
22/11/2013 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Speaking at the opening of a conference in Strasbourg on immigration detention in Europe, Annette Groth said that “parliamentarians could help shift attitudes on this issue and push for more alternatives to detention.”
21/11/2013 | Bureau
At the opening of its meeting in Vienna, PACE's Bureau held a minute's silence in memory of Peter Schieder, former President of the Assembly and leading Austrian parliamentarian, who died in October.
21/11/2013 | Bureau
PACE's Bureau, meeting today in Vienna, has deplored the fact that an international peace conference on Syria, wholeheartedly supported by the Assembly last month, has not yet been convened.