27/09/2012 | President
What challenges are young people facing in a democracy ? How can they contribute to the development of more democratic and more inclusive societies in Europe? These topics will be debated from 5 to 7 October in Strasbourg by PACE members and around 170 young people, on the occasion of the Youth Assembly 2012, organised by PACE in co-operation with the European Youth Foundation and the Youth sector of the Council of Europe.
25/09/2012 | Elections
A 22-member PACE delegation, led by Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), will travel to Georgia from 29 September to 2 October to observe the conduct of the parliamentary elections alongside observers from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, European Parliament, NATO Parliamentary Assembly and OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
24/09/2012 | News
“Young people have unprecedented access to information but this information does not necessarily give them any real say and will not always enable them to join existing associations or political bodies. Young people should therefore be encouraged to take part in politics,” said Jean-Claude Mignon, PACE President, speaking today in Saint Petersburg at the opening of the 9th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth.
24/09/2012 | Political Affairs and Democracy
"I regret that many OSCE commitments on citizens’ democratic rights to associate, to stand as candidates and to express themselves freely were not respected in yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Belarus and that the elections were not administered in an impartial manner due to the lack of proper counting procedures or ways for observers to verify the results, " said Andres Herkel.
24/09/2012 | Monitoring
Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD), PACE rapporteur on post-monitoring dialogue with Bulgaria, will make a fact-finding visit to Sofia on 26-27 September 2012. During his visit, meetings are scheduled with the Vice-President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Interior as well as with the judicial authorities.
22/09/2012 | Elections
The forthcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine will be a litmus test of Ukraine’s commitment to democratic principles as a step towards further European integration, a PACE pre-electoral delegation said at the end of a two-day visit to Kyiv (20 and 21 September). The seven-member delegation, which met representatives of all the main parties running as well as election officials and civil society groups, urged a number of steps aimed at ensuring Ukrainian voters are able to make a free choice among genuine alternatives on 28 October, in line with Ukraine’s commitments to the Council of Europe.
22/09/2012 | News
“Policies for young people and investment in human capital must not be considered as social expenditure but as medium- and long-term investment in the growth of individual countries and the European continent. Europe needs youth to grow and prosper. This might seem obvious, but the short-term policies unfortunately predominate today in a great many of European countries,” Luca Volontè (Italy, EPP/CD) stressed today on the occasion of the Youth Event on Young people’s access to rights: development of innovative youth policies organised in St. Petersburg.
21/09/2012 | President
When the Arab revolutions shook the entire world, at the end of 2010 / beginning of 2011, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly had some concrete tools to offer and at least the prospect of a possible future cooperation with the parliaments of emerging democracies in its immediate neighbourhood...
21/09/2012 | European Conference of Presidents of Parliament
20/09/2012 | President
“I was shocked and horrified to see media images of prison guards violently assaulting inmates in a prison in Georgia. These intolerable atrocities took place in a Council of Europe member state. President Saakashvili has announced his intention to punish the culprits. I hope that all those at all levels who bear any responsibility in this appalling affair will be identified and punished according to the law,” declared this morning PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon.
20/09/2012 | Monitoring
PACE monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) and Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC), have expressed their shock at the videos that have surfaced in Georgia showing prisoners being abused and tortured by prison guards. "Such practices are unacceptable in a Council of Europe member State, therefore we welcome the swift reaction of the authorities," they said.
20/09/2012 | President
The main focus of the Assembly’s contribution to recent discussions on the future of the Court has been the national dimension, and more particularly, the parliamentary dimension ie the role that national parliaments can play in securing full and effective implementation of the rights guaranteed by the Convention at the domestic level...