11/05/2013 | Election observation
The PACE delegation observing the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria yesterday met President Rosen Plevneliev, Prime Minister Marin Raykov, Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and Justice Minister Dragomir Yordanov. Discussions focussed on the atmosphere of the election campaign with just two days left to voting day. The 19-member delegation is observing the election alongside observers from the OSCE.
11/05/2013 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon, speaking on the eve of an official visit to Turkey, has strongly condemned the attacks in the town of Rehyanli, close to the Syrian border. “I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims, and my support to all who are working on behalf of those affected. I also express my support for the Turkish authorities [...]. The perpetrators of these explosions tried to spread panic and destabilise the region. They will not succeed."
10/05/2013 | President
PACE President, Jean-Claude Mignon, will make an official visit to Turkey from 13 to 15 May, during which he is due to meet the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for the Family and Social Policy.
10/05/2013 | Equality and Non-Discrimination
Håkon Haugli (Norway, SOC), PACE rapporteur of the Equality and Non-Discrimination Committee, will make a fact-finding visit to Kyiv on 15-16 May 2013 in the framework of the preparation of his report on "Tackling discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity".
07/05/2013 | Election observation
A 19-member PACE delegation, headed by Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), will travel to Bulgaria from 10 to 13 May to observe the early parliamentary elections alongside observers from the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
07/05/2013 | President
PACE and the European Parliament must speak with one voice in the fields of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon underlined at the end of his two-day visit to the European Parliament in Brussels, on 6 and 7 May.
06/05/2013 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon has voiced concern about the current situation in the Republic of Moldova, where a political struggle seems to be in danger of jeopardising the Moldovan people’s aspirations on the road to European integration.
03/05/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Marina Schuster (Germany, ALDE), PACE's newly-appointed General Rapporteur on the abolition of the death penalty, and Andres Herkel (Estonia, EPP/CD), rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, have expressed their dismay at the first death sentence handed down in Belarus since the execution of the purported Minsk metro bombers in 2012.
03/05/2013 | Legal Affairs and Human Rights
PACE co-rapporteurs for Ukraine, Mailis Reps (Estonia, ALDE) and Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin (Sweden, EPP/CD), as well as Pieter Omtzigt, (Netherlands, EPP/CD) Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on “Keeping political and criminal responsibility separate”, urge the Ukrainian authorities to use all legal means to release Yulia Tymoshenko...
02/05/2013 | President
PACE President, Jean-Claude Mignon, will give a speech at the ceremony to be held on 10 May in Girona in tribute to the former President of the Assembly, Lluís Maria de Puig, who died in December 2012. He will be accompanied by the Secretary General of the Assembly, Wojciech Sawicki.
02/05/2013 | President
PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon will meet in Brussels on 6 and 7 May, Miguel Martinez, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs...
02/05/2013 | Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Reacting to the death on Monday 30 April of a 5 year-old girl who had been raped two weeks earlier in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) and José Mendes Bota (Portugal, EPP/CD) declared themselves worried about the fact that full protection of their life and safety is by far not guaranteed to all girls and women throughout the world...